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LIFE 



ISRAEL PUTNAM, 

JIAJOK-GENERAL IN TlIK ARMY OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 



ON THE BASIS OF THE MEMOIRS BT 
COLONEL DAVID HUMPHREYS, 

HIS COMPAXION IN ARMS. 



I5EW YORK: 

SHELDON, LAMPORT & BLAKEMAN, 
No. 115 Nassau Street. 
1855. 



1 



^ A Montgomery County Public Ubn»y 



LIFE 



ISRAEL PUTNAM, 

XAJOR-GENESAL IN THK ARM? OF THS 
DNITED STATES. 



ON THE BASIS OF THE MEMOIRS BY 
COLONEL DAVID HUMPHREYS, 

HIS COMPANION IX ARMS. 



NEW YORK: 

SHELDON, LAMPORT & BLAKEMAN, 
i No, 115 Nassau Street. 

I 1855. 



9^0,-. 



rr 



<{'\ 



Entered according to an Act of Congrem, ia 

the year 1847, by 

NAFIS ic CORMSH, 

in the Clerk's OtTice of tlie District Court of 

lUe Southern District of New York. 



Ho. 9 SprT».-». ytppet. y T 



PREFACE. 



General Putnam is deservedly 
considered one of the ablest and 
bravest officers to which this country 
has ^iven birth. His services in 
the French and Indian wars, which 
preceded the Revolution, were so 
remarkable, and his character for 
courage and ability so well known, 
that immediately on the commence- 
ment of hostilities between the 
American colonies and the mother 
country, he was placed in the fore- 
most rank of generals. His con- 
duct at the battle of Bunker Hill 
was questioned by General Dear- 
born, nearly half a century after 
that celebrated event ; but a host of 
defenders instantly started up, and 



IV PREFACE. 



living witnesses were found in abun- 
dance to justify the truth of history | 
and vindicate the character of the 
veteran commander. 

Duriui? all the early part of the 
Revolution, he was intrusted by 
Washington with the most difficult 
and important commands ; but his 
constitution was so broken by a 
series of hardships encountered dur- 
ing his military life, that an attack 
of palsy rendered him incapable of 
further duty, and deprived the coun- 
try of his services during the latter 
years of the Revolution. 

The following biography is based 
upon the best memoir of him which 
has ever appeared, written by 
Colonel Humphreys, his companion 
in arms, and clclivered as an address 
to the Society of the Cincinnati. But 
slight alterations from the original 
work have been made, and those 
generally in the way of curtailment. 



HU»M 



LIFE OF 
GENERAL PUTNAM. 



Israel Putnam was born at Sa- 
lem, in the province (now state) of 
Massachusetts, on the 7th day of 
January, 1718. His father. Cap- 
tain Joseph Putnam, was the son 
of Mr. John Putnam, who, with two 
brothers, came from the south of 
England, and were among the first 
settlers of Salem. 

His early instruction was not 
considerable, and the active scenes 
of life in which he was afterwards 
engaged, prevented the opportunity 
of great literary improvement. His 



6 LIFE OF 

numerous original letters, though 
deficient in scholastic accuracy, 
always display the goodness of his 
heart, and frequently the strength 
of his native genius. He had a 
certain laconic mode of expression, 
and an unafiected epigrammatic 
turn, which characterized most of 
his writings. 

To compensate partially for the 
deficiency of education (though no- 
thing can remove or counterbal- 
ance the inconveniences experienc- 
ed from it in public life) he derived 
from his parents the source of in- 
numerable advantages in the sta- 
mina of a vigorous constitution. 

Courage, enterprise, activity, and 
perseverance were the first charac- 
teristics of his mind. There is a 
kind of mechanical courage, the 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



offspring of pride, habit, or disci- 
pline, that may push a coward not 
only to perform his duty, but even 
to venture on acts of heroism. Put- 
nam's courage was of a different 
species. It was ever attended with 
a serenity of soul, a clearness of 
conception, a degree of self-posses- 
sion, and a superiority to all the 
vicissitudes of fortune, entirely dis- 
tinct from anything that can be 
produced by the ferment of blood, 
and flutter of spirits ; which not 
unfrequently precipitate men to ac- 
tion, when stimulated by intoxica- 
tion or some other transient exhila- 
ration. The heroic character, thus 
founded on constitution and animal 
spirits, cherished by education and 
ideas of personal freedom, confirm- 
ed by temperance and habits of ex- 



LIFE OF 



ercise, was completed by the dictate 
of reason, the love of his country, 
and an invincible sense of duty. 
Such were the qualities and prin- 
ciples that enabled him to meetunap- 
palled the shafts of adversity, and 
to pass in triumph through the fur- 
nace of affliction. 

His disposition was as frank and 
generous as his mind was fearless 
and independent. He disguised 
nothing ; indeed he seemed incapa- 
ble of disguise. Perhaps in the in- 
tercourse he was ultimately obliged 
to have with an artful world, his 
sincerity, on some occasions, out- 
went his discretion. Although he 
had too much suavity in his nature 
to commence a quarrel, he had too 
much sensibility not to feel, and 
too much honour not to resent an 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



intended insult. The first time he 
went to Boston he was insulted for 
his rusticity by a boy of twice his 
size and age ; after bearing the sar- 
casms until his patience was worn 
out, he challenged, engaged, and 
vanquished his unmannerly antago- 
nist, to the great diversion of a 
crowd of spectators. While a strip- 
ling, his ambition was to perform 
the labour of a man, and to excel 
in athletic diversions. In that rude, 
but masculine age, whenever the 
village youth assembled on their 
usual occasions of festivity, pitch- 
ing the bar, running, leaping, and 
wrestling were favourite amuse- 
ments. At such gymnastic exer- 
cises (in which, during the heroic 
times of ancient Greece and Rome, 
conquest was considered as the pro- 



10 



LIFE or 



misc offuture military fame) ho bore 
the palm from almost every ring. 

Mr. Putnam, before he attained 
the twenty-first year of his age, 
married Miss Pope, daughter of Mr. 
John Pope of Salem, by whom he 
had ten children. He lost the wife 
of his youth in 1764. Some time 
after he married Mrs. Gardiner, wi- 
dow of Mr. Gardiner of Gardiner's 
Island, by whom lie had no issue. 
She died in 1777. 



THE WOLF. 

In the year 1739 he removed 
from Salem to Pomfret, an inland 
fertile town in Connecticut, forty 
miles east of Hartford : having here 
purchased a considerable tract of 
land, he applied himself success- 
fully to agriculture. 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 11 

The first years, on a new farm, 
are not, however, exempt from dis- 
asters and disappointments, which 
can only be remedied by stubborn 
and patient industry. Our farmer, 
sufficiently occupied in building a 
house and barn, felling woods, mak- 
ing fences, sowing grain, planting 
orchards, and taking care of his 
stock, had to encounter, in turn, the 
calamities occasioned by drought 
in summer, blast in harvest, loss of 
cattle in winter, and the desolation 
of his sheepfold by wolves. In 
one night he had seventy fine sheep 
and goats killed, besides many lambs 
and kids wounded. This havoc was 
committed by a she wolf, which, 
with her annual whelps, had for 
several years infested the vicinity. 
The young were commonly destroy- 



12 LIFE OF 

ed by the vigilance of the hunters, 
but the old one was too sagacious 
to come within reach of gunshot: 
upon being closely pursued, she 
would generally fly to the west- 
ern woods, and return the next 
winter with another litter of whelps. 
This wolf, at length, became 
such an intolerable nuisance, that 
I\!r. Putnam entered into a combi- 
nation with five of his neighbours 
to hunt alternately until they could 
destroy her. Two, by rotation, were 
to be constantly in pursuit. It was 
known, that, having lost the toes 
from one foot, by a steel-trap, she 
made one track shorter than the 
other. By this vestige, the pursu- 
ers recognised, in a light snow, the 
route of this pernicious animal. 
Having followed her to Connecticut 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 13 

river and found she had turned back 
in a direct course towards Pornfret, 
they immediately returned, and by 
ten o'clock the next morning, the 
blood-hounds had driven her into a 
den, about three miles distant irom 
the house of Mr. Putnam. The 
people soon collected, with dogs, 
guns, straw, fire and sulphur, to at- 
tack the common enemy. With 
this apparatus several unsuccessful 
efforts were made to force her from 
the den. The hounds came back 
badly wounded and refused to re- 
turn. The smoke of blazing straw 
had no effect. Nor did the fumes 
of burnt brimstone, with which the 
cavern was filled, compel her to quit 
the retirement. 

Wearied with such fruitless at- 
tempts (which had brought the time 



14 



LIFE OF 



to ten o'clock at night), Mr. Putnam 
tried once more to make his dog 
enter, but in vain ; he proposed to 
his negro man to go down into the 
cavern and shoot the wolf: the ne- 
gro declined the hazardous service. 
Then it was that the master, angry 
at the disappointment, and declaring 
that he was ashamed to have a cow- 
ard in his family, resolved himself 
to destroy the ferocious beast, lest 
she should escajx? through some un- 
known fissure of the rock. His 
neighbours strongly remonstrated 
against the perilous enterprise : but 
he, knowing that wild animals were 
intimidated by fire, and having pro- 
vided several strips of birch-bark, 
the only combustible material which 
he could obtain that would afford 
light in this deep and darksomecave, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 15 



prepared for his descent. Having, 
accordingly, divested himself of his 
coat and waistcoat, and having a 
long rope fastened round his legs, 
by which he might be pulled back, 
at a concerted signal, he entered 
head foremost, with the blazing 
torch in his hand. 

The aperture of the den, on, the 
east side of a very high ledge of 
rocks, is about two feet square ; 
from thence it descends obliquely 
fifteen feet, then running horizon- 
tally about ten more, it ascends gra- 
dually sixteen feet towards its ter- 
mination. The sides of this sub- 
terraneous cavity are composed of 
smooth and solid rocks, which seem 
to have been divided from each 
other by some former earthquake. 
The top and bottom are also of stone, 



16 LIFE OF 

and the entrance, in winter, being 
covered with ice, is exceedingly 
sHppery. It is in no place high 
enough for a man to raise himself 
upright, nor in any part more than 
three feet in width. 

Having groped his passage to the 
horizontal part of the den, the most 
terrifying darkness appeared in 
front of the dim circle of light af- 
forded by his torch. It was silent 
as the house of death. None but 
monsters of the desert had ever be- 
fore explored this solitary mansion 
of horror. He, cautiously proceed- 
ing onward, came to the ascent ; 
which he slowly mounted on his 
hands and knees until he discover- 
ed the glaring eye-balls of the wolf, 
who was sitting at the extremity of 
the cavern. Startled at the sight 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 17 



of fire, she gnashed her teeth, and 
gave a sullen growl. As soon as 
he had made the necessary discov- 
ery, he kicked the rope as a signal 
for pulling him out. The people at 
the mouth of the den, who had lis- 
tened with painful anxiety, hearing 
the growling of the wolf, and sup- 
posing their friend to be in the most 
imminent danger, drew him forth 
with such celerity that his shirt was 
stripped over his head, and his skin 
severely lacerated. 

After he had adjusted his clothes, 
and loaded his gun with nine buck- 
shot, holding a torch in one hand 
and the musket in the other, he de- 
scended the second time. When 
he drew nearer than before, the 
wolf, assuming a still more fierce 
and terrible appearance, howling. 



18 



LIFE OF 



rolling her eyes, snapping her teeth, 
and dropping her head between her 
legs, was evidently in the attitude, 
and on the point of springing at 
him. At the critical instant he 
levelled and fired at her head. 
Stunned with the shock, and suffo- 
cated with the smoke, he immedi- 
ately found himself drawn out of 
the cave. But having refreshed 
himself, and permitted the smoke 
to dissipate, he went down the third 
time. Once more he came within 
sight of the wolf, who appearing 
very passive, he applied the torch 
to her nose, and perceiving her 
dead, he took hold of her ears, and 
then kicking the rope (still tied 
round his legs) the people above 
with no small exultation dragged 
them both out together. 



GENERAL PUTNAM, 21 

Prosperity, at length, began to 
attend the agricultural affairs of 
Mr. Putnam. He was acknow- 
ledged to be a skilful and indefati- 
gable manager. His fields were 
mostly enclosed with stone walls. 
His crops commonly succeeded, 
because the land was well tilled 
and manured. His pastures and 
meadows became luxuriant. His 
cattle were of the best breed, and 
in good order ; bis garden and 
fruit-trees prolific. With the avails 
of the surplusage of his produce, 
foreign articles were purchased. 
Within doors he found the com- 
pensation of his labours in the 
plenty of excellent provisions, as 
well as in the happiness of domes- 
tic society. 



22 



SERVICES IN THE CAMPAIGN OP 
1755. 

But the time had now arrived 
which was to turn the instruments 
of husbandry into weapons of hos- 
tility, and to exchange the hunting 
of wolves, who had ravaged the 
sheepfolds, for the pursuit after 
savages, who had desolated tho 
frontiers. Mr. Putnam was about 
37 years old, when the war bt^tween 
England and France, which pre- 
ceded the revolution, broke out in 
America. His reputation must 
have been favourably known to tho 
government, since among the first 
troops that wore levied by Conneoti- 
cut, in 1755, he was appointed to 
the command of a company in Ly« 
man's regiment of Provincials, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 23 



As he was extremely popular, 
he found no difficulty in enlisting 
his complement of recruits from 
the most hardy, enterprising, and 
respectable young men of his 
neighbourhood. The regiment join- 
ed the army, at the opening of the 
campaign, not far distant from 
Crown Point. Soon after his arri- 
val at camp, he became intimately 
acquainted with the famous parti- 
san Captain, afterwards Major 
Rogers, with whom he was fre- 
quently associated in traversing 
the wilderness, reconnoitring the 
enemy's lines, gaining intelligence, 
and taking straggling prisoners, as 
well as in beating up the quarters 
and surprising the advanced pick- 
ets of their army. For these oper- 
ations a corps of rangers was 



24 



LIFE OF 



formed from the irregulars. The 
first time Rogers and Putnam were 
detaclicd with a party of these 
light troops, it was the fortune of 
the latter to preserve, with his own 
hand, the life of the former, and to 
cement their friendship with the 
blood of one of their enemies. 

The ohject of this expedition was 
to obtain an accurate knowledge of 
the position and state of the worlds 
at Crown Point. It was impracti- 
cable to approach with tlieir party 
near enough for this purpose, with- 
out being discovered. Alone, the 
undertaking was sufficiently haz- 
ardous, on account of the swarms 
of hostile Indians who infested the 
woods. Our two partisans, how- 
ever, left all their men at a conve- 
nient distance, with strict orders to 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 25 

continue concealed until their re- 
turn. Having thus cautiously 
taken their arrangements, they 
advanced with the profoundest 
silence in the evening; and lay, 
during the night, contiguous to the 
fortress. 

Early in the morning they 
approached so close as to be able 
to give satisfactory information to 
the general who had sent them, 
on the several points to which their 
attention had been directed; but 
Captain Rogers, being at a little 
distance from Captain Putnam, for- 
tuitously met a stout Frenchman, 
who instantly seized his fusee with 
one hand, and with the other 
attempted to stab him, while he 
called to an adjacent guard for 
assistance. The guard answered. 



26 LIFE OF 



Putnam, perceiving the imminent 
danger of his friend, and that no 
time was to be lost, or further 
alarm given by firing, ran rapidly 
to them, while they were yet strug- 
gling, and with the but-end of his 
piece laid the Frenchman dead at 
his feet. The partisans, to elude 
pursuit, precipitated their flight, 
joined the party, and returned with- 
out loss to the encampment. Not 
many occasions occurred for parti- 
sans to display their talents in the 
course of this summer. 

The war was chequered with 
various fortune in different quarters 
— such as the total defeat of Gene- 
ral Braddock, and the splendid vic- 
tory of Sir William Johnson over 
the French troops, commanded by 
the Baron Dieskau. The brilliancy 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 27 

of this success was necessary to 
console the Americans for the dis- 
grace of that disaster. The time 
for which the colonial troops en- 
gaged to serve terminated with the 
campaign. Putnam was reappoint- 
ed, and again took the field in 
1756. 

§8RVICES IN THE CAMPAIGN OF 
1756. 

Few are so ignorant of war as 
not to know, that military adven- 
tures, in the night, are always ex- 
tremely liable to accidents. Cap- 
tain Putnam, having been com- 
manded to reconnoitre the enemy's 
camp at the Ovens near Ticonde~ 
roga, took the brave Lieutenant 
Robert Durkee as his companion. 
In attempting to execute these or- 



LIFE OP 



ders he narrowly missed being 
taken himself in the first instance, 
and killinsz his friend in the second. 
It was customary for the British 
and Provincial troops to place their 
fires round their camp, which fre- 
quently exposed them to the ene- 
my's scouts and patroles. A con- 
trary practice, then unknown in the 
Enp;lish army, prevailed among the 
French and Indians. The plan was 
much more rational ; they kept 
their fires in the centre, Iodised their 
men circularly at a distance, and 
posted their sentinels in the sur- 
rounding darkness. 

Our partisans approached the 
camp, and supposini!; the sentries 
M'ere within the circle of fires, crept 
upon their hands and Knees with 
the greatest possible caution, until, 



GE>fllIiAL PUTNAM. 29 

to their uttef astonishment, they 
found themselves in the thickest of 
the enemy. The sentinels, disco- 
vering them, fired and slightly 
wounded Durkee in the thigh. He 
and Putnam had no alternative. 
They fled. The latter, being fore- 
most and scarcely able to see his 
hand before him, soon plunged in- 
to a clay-pit. Durkee, almost at 
the identical, moment, came tum- 
bling after. Putnam, by no means 
pleased at finding a companion, and 
believing him to be one of the ene- 
my, lifted his tomahawk to give 
the deadly blow, when Durkee 
(who had followed so closely as to 
know him) inquired, whether he 
had escaped unhurt. Captain Put- 
nam instantly recognising the voice, 
dropped his weapon: and both. 



30 



LIFE OF 



springing from the pit, made good 
their retreat to the neiiilibouring 
ledges, amidst a shower of random 
shot. There they betook themselves 
to a large log, by the side of which 
they lodged the remainder of the 
night. Before they lay down. Cap- 
tain Putnam said he had a little 
rum in his canteen, which could 
never be more acceptable or ne* 
cessary ; but on examining the 
canteen, which hung under his arm, 
he found the enemy had pierced it 
with their balls, and that there was 
not a drop of liquor lelh The next 
day he found fourteen bullet holes 
in his blanket. 

In the same summer a body of 
the enemy, consisting of 600 men, 
attacked the baggage and provision 
wagons at a place called the Half- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 31 

Way-Brook ; it being equidistant 
from Fort Edward and the south 
end of Lake George. Having kill- 
ed the oxen and plundered the wa- 
gons, they retreated with their booty 
without having met with such re- 
sistance as might have been expect- 
ed from the strength of the escort. 
General Webb, upon receiving intel- 
ligence of this disaster, ordered Cap- 
tains Putnam and Rogers " to take 
100 volunteers in boats, with two 
wall-pieces and two blunderbusses, 
and to proceed down Lake George 
to a certain point: there to leave 
the batteaux under a proper guard, 
and thence to cross by land, so as 
to harass, and, if practicable, inter- 
cept the retreating enemy at the 
narrows." 

These orders were executed with 



32 



LIFE OF 



SO much punctuality, that the party 
arrived at the destined place halt' an 
hour berore the hostile boats came in 
view. Here they waited, under 
cover, until the enemy (ignorant of 
these proceedings) entered the nar- 
rows with their batteaux loaded with 
plunder. Then the volunteers pour- 
ed upon them volley after volley, 
killed many of the oarsmen, sunk 
a number of their batteaux, and 
would soon have destroyed the 
whole body of the enemy, had not 
the unusual precipitancy of their 
passage (favoured by the wind) car- 
ried them through the narrows into 
th'j wide part of South Bay, where 
they were out of the reach of mus- 
ket-shot. 

The shattered remnant of the lit- 
tle fleet soon arrived at Ticondero- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 33 

ga, and gave information that Put- 
nam and Rogers were at the nar- 
rows. A fresh party was instantly 
detached to cut them in pieces, on 
their return to Fort Edward. Our 
partisans, sensible of the probabili- 
ty of such an attempt, and being 
full twenty miles from their boats, 
strained every nerve to reach them 
as soon as possible ; which they ef- 
fected the same night. 

Next day, when they had return- 
ed as far as Sabbath-Day Point, they 
discovered, on shore, the beforemen* 
tioned detachment of 300 men, who 
had passed them in the night, and 
who now, on perceiving our party, 
took to their boats with the greatest 
alacrity, and rowed out to give bat- 
tle. They advanced in line, main- 
taining a good mien, and felicitating 



34 



LITK OF 



themselves upon the prospect of an 
easy conquest, from llie great supe- 
riority of their numbers. Flushed 
with these eX|K?ctations, they were 
permitted to come within pistol-shot 
before a gun was fired. At once, 
tlie wall-pieces and blunderbusses, 
which had been brought to rake 
them in the most vulnerable point, 
were discharged. As no such recep- 
tion had been foreseen, the assail- 
ants were thrown into the utmost dis- 
order. Their terror and confusion 
were greatly increased by a well-di- 
rected and most destructive fire of 
thesmallarms. The larger pieces he* 
ing reloaded, without annoyance, 
continued alternately with the mus- 
ketry to make dreadful havoc, until 
the rout was completed and the ene- 
my driven back to Ticondcroga. 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 35 

In this action, one of the bark 
canoes contained twenty Indians, 
ofwhom fifteen were killed. Great 
numbers, from other boats, both of 
French and Indians, were seen to 
fall overboard : but the amount of 
their total loss could never be as- 
certained. Rogers and Putnam had 
but one man killed, and two slightly 
wounded. They now landed on 
the point, and having refreshed their 
men at leisure, returned in good or- 
der to the British camp. 

Soon after these rencounters, a 
singular kind of race was run by 
our nimble-footed Provincial and an 
active young Frenchman. The 
liberty of each was by turns at stake. 
General Webb, wanting a prisoner 
for the sake of intelligence, sent 
Capt. Putnam with five men to pro- 



36 



LIFE OY 



cure one. The caj3tain concealed 
himself near the road which leads 
from Ticonderoga to the Ovens. 
His men seemed fond of showing 
themselves, which unsoldier-Iike 
conduct he prohibited with the se- 
verest reprehension. This rebuke 
they imputed to unnecessary fear. 
The observation is as true as vul- 
gar, that persons distinguishable for 
temerity, when there is no apparent 
danger, are generally poltroons 
whenever danger approaches. 

They had not Iain long, in the 
high grass, before a Frenchman and 
an Indian passed — the Indian was 
considerably in advance. As soon 
as the former had gone by, Putnam, 
relying on the fidelity of his men, 
sprang up, ran, and ordered them 
to follow. After running about 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 37 

thirty rods, he seized the French- 
man by the shoulders, and forced 
him to surrender : But his prisoner, 
looking round, perceiving no other 
enemy, and knowing the Indian 
would be ready in a moment to as- 
sist him, began to make an obsti- 
nate resistance. Putnam, finding 
himself betrayed by his men into a 
perilous dilemma, let go his hold, 
stepped back and snapped his piece, 
which was levelled at the French- 
man's breast. It missed fire. Upon 
this he thought it most prudent to 
retreat. The Frenchman, in turn, 
chased him back to his men, who? 
at last, raised themselves from the 
grass ; which his pursuer espying 
in good time for himself, made his 
escape. 

Putnam, mortified that these men 



38 LIFE OF 



1 



had frustrated his success, dismiss. 
ed them witli disgrace; and not 
long after accomplished his ohject. 
Such httle feats as the capture of 
a single prisoner, may be of infi- 
nitely moixi consequence than some 
who are unac(juainted with milita- 
ry aifairs would be apt to imagine. 
In a country covered with woods, 
like that part of America then the 
seat of war, the difficulty of procu- 
ring, and the importance of possess- 
ing good intelligence, can scarce- 
ly be conceived even by European 
commanders. They, however, who 
know its value, will not appreciate 
lightly the services of an able par- 
tisan. 

Nothing worthy of remark hap- 
pened during this campaign, ex- 
cept the loss of Oswego. That 



GENERAI< PUTNAM. 39 



fort, which had been built by Gen- 
eral Shirley, to protect the peltry 
trade, cover the country on the 
Mohawk River, and facilitate an 
invasion of Canada, by Frontenac 
and Niagara, fell into the hands of 
the enemy, with a garrison of six- 
teen hundred men, and one hun- 
dred pieces of cannon, 

The active services of Captain 
Putnam on every occasion attract- 
ed the admiration of the public, 
and induced the Legislature of 
Connecticut to promote him to a 
majority in 1757. 

Lord Loudon was then Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the British 
forces in A^merica. The expedi- 
tion against Crown Point, which 
from the commencement of hostili. 
ties had been in contemplation, 



40 



WFE OP 



seemed to give place lo a more 
important operation that was medi- 
tated against Louisbourg. But 
the arrival of the Brest squadron 
at that place prevented the attempt: 
and the loss of Fort William Henry 
served to class this with the two 
former unsuccessful campaigns. 
It was rumoured, and partially 
credited at the time, that General 
Webb, who commanded in the 
northern department, had early 
intimation of the movement of the 
French army, and might have 
effectually succoured the garrison. 
The subscnuent facts will place 
the affair in its proper light. 

A few days before the siege, 
Major Putnam, with two hundred 
men, escorted General Webb from 
Fort Edward to Fort William 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 41 

Henry. The object was to exam- 
ine the state of this fortification, 
which stood at the southern ex- 
tremity of Lake George. Several 
abortive attempts having been 
made by Major Rogers and others 
in the night season, Major Putnam 
proposed to go down the lake in 
open daylight, land at Northwest 
Bay, and tarry on shore until he 
could make satisfactory discovery 
of the enemy's actual situation at 
Ticonderoga and the adjacent posts. 
The plan (which he suggested) of 
landing with only five men, and 
sending back the boats, to prevent 
detection, was deemed too hazard- 
ous by the general. 

At length, however, he was 
permitted to proceed with eighteen 
volunteers in three whale boats ; 



r 



42 I,IFE OF 



but before he arrived at Northwest 
Bay he discovered a body of men 
on an island. Immediately upon 
this, he left two boats to fish at a 
distance, that they might not occa- 
sion an alarm, and returned him- 
self with the information. The 
general, seeing him rowing back 
with groat velocity, in a single 
boat, concluded the others were 
captured, and sent a skiff', with 
orders for him alone to come on 
shore. After advising the general 
of the circumstances, he urged the 
expediency of returning to make 
further discoveries, and bring off* 
the boats. Leave was reluctantly 
given. He found his people, and, 
passing still onward, discovered 
(by the aid of a good perspective 
glass) a large army in motion. 



GENERAJ- PUTNAM. 43 

By this time several of the ad- 
vanced canoes had nearly sur- 
rounded him ; but by the swiftness 
of his whale boats, he escaped 
through the midst of them. On 
his return, he informed the general 
minutely of all he had seen, and 
intimated his conviction that the 
expedition must obviously be des- 
tined against Fort William Henry. 
That commander, strictly enjoining 
silence on the subject, directed him 
to put his men under an oath of 
secresy, and to prepare, without 
loss of time, to return to the head- 
quarters of the army. Major Put- 
nam observed, " he hoped his 
Excellency did not intend to neglect 
so fair an opportunity of giving 
battle, should the enemy presume 
to land." " What do you think 



44 



LIFE OF 



we should do here?" replied the 
general. Accordingly, the next 
day he returned, and the day after 
Colonel Monro was ordered IVom 
Fort Edward, with his regiment, to 
reinforce the garrison. That offi- 
cer look with him all his rich 
baggage and camp equipage, not- 
withstanding Major Putnam's ad- 
vice to the contrary. The day 
following his arrival, the enemy 
landed and besieged the place. 

The Marquis de Montcalm, j 
Commander-in-Chief for the French | 
in Canada, intending to take ad- | 
vantage of the absence of a large I 
proportion of the British force, 
which he understood to be employ- 
ed under Lord Loudon against 
Louisbourg, had assembled what- 
ever men could be spared from 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 45 

Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and 
the other garrisons : with these he 
had combined a considerable corps 
of Canadians, and a larger body of 
Indians than had ever before been 
collected ; making in the whole an 
army of nearly eight thousand 
men. Our garrison consisted of 
twenty -five hundred, and was com- 
manded by Colonel Monro, a very 
gallant officer, who found the 
means of sending express after 
express to General Webb, with an 
account of his situation, and the 
most pressing solicitation for suc- 
cour. In the meantime, the army 
at Fort Edward, which originally 
amounted to about four thousand, 
had been considerably augmented 
by Johnson's troops and the militia. 
On the 8th or 9th day after the 



46 



LlFli OF 



landing of the French, General \ 
Johnson (in consequence of repeat* | 
ed applications) was suffered to | 
march for the relief of the garri- I 
son, with all the* Provincials, 
Militia, and Putnam's Rangers ; 
but before they had proceeded 
three miles, the order was counter- j 
manded, and they returned. M. de 
Montcalm informed Major Putnam, 
when a prisoner in Canada, that 
one of his running Indians saw 
and reported this movement : and, 
upon being questioned relative to 
the numbers, answered in their 
figurative style, " If you can 
count the leavca on the trees, you 
can count them.'''' In effect, the 
operations of the siege were sus- 
pended, and preparations made for 
re-embarking, when another of the 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 47 

runners reported that the detach* 
ment had gone back. The Marquis 
de Montcalm, provided with a good 
train of artillery, meeting with no 
annoyance fi*om the British army, 
and but inconsiderable interruption 
from the garrison, accelerated his 
approaches so rapidly, as to obtain 
possession of the fort in a short 
time after completing its investiture. 
An intercepted letter from General 
Webb, advising the surrender, was 
sent into the fort to Colonel Monro 
by the French general. 

The garrison engaged not to 
serve for eighteen months, and 
were permitted to march out with 
the honours of war. But the 
savages regarded not the capitula- 
tion ; nor could they be restrained 
by the utmost exertion of the ! 



48 LIFE OF 



commandin;L^ officer, from commit- 
ting the most outrageous acts of 
cruelty. They stripped and plun- 
dered all the prisoners, and mur- 
dered great numbers in cold blood. 
Those who escaped by flight, or 
the protection of the French, 
arrived in a forlorn condition at 
Fort Edward. Among these was 
the commandant of the garrison. 

The day succeeding this deplora- 
ble scene of carnage and barbarity. 
Major Putnam having been dis- 
patched with his Rangers to watch 
the motions of the enemy, came to 
the shore, when their rear was 
scarcely beyond the reach of 
musket shot. They had carried 
off all the cannon, stores, and 
water craft. The fort was demol- 
ished. The barracks, tho out- 



I 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 51 

houses and sutlers' booths were 
heaps of ruins. The fires, not 
yet extinct, and the smoke, offen- 
sive from the mucilaginous nature 
of the fuel, but ill concealed 
innumerable fragments of human 
skulls and bones, and, in some 
instances, carcasses half consumed. 
Dead bodies, weltering in blood, 
were every where to be seen, 
violated, with all the wanton muti- 
lations of savage ingenuity. More 
than one hundred women, some 
with their brains still oozing from 
the battered heads, others with 
their whole hair wrenched collec- 
tively with the skin from the 
bloody skulls, and many (with 
their throats cut) most inhumanly 
stabbed and butchered, lay stripped 
entirely naked, with their bowels 



62 LIFE OF 

torn out, and afluided a spectacle 
too horrible for description. 

Not long after this misfortune, 
General Lyman succeeded to tlie 
command of Fort Edward. He 
resolved to strengthen it. For this 
purpose one hundred and fifty 
men were employed in cutting 
timber. To cover them, Captain 
Little was posted (with fifty British 
regulars) at the hcatl of a thick 
swamp about one hundred rods 
eastward of tlic fort — to which 
his communication lay over a 
tongue of land, formed on the one 
side by the swamp, and by a creek 
on the other. 

One morning, at daybreak, a 
sentinel saw indistinctly several 
birds, as he conceived, come from 
the swamp and fly over him with 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 53 

incredible swiftness. While he 
was ruminating on these wonderful 
birds, and endeavouring to form 
some idea of their colour, shape 
and size, an arrow buried itself in 
the limb of a tree just above his 
head. He now discovered the 
quality and design of these winged 
messengers of fate, and gave the 
alarm. Instantly the working 
party began to retreat along the 
defile, A large body of savages 
had concealed themselves in the 
morass before the guard was posted, 
and were attempting in this way 
to kill the sentinel without noise, 
with design to surprise the whole 
party. Finding the alarm given, 
they rushed from the covert, shot 
and tomahawked those who were 
nearest at hand, and pressed hard 



54 LIFE OF 

on tlie remaindur of tlie unarmed 
fugitives. Captain Little flew to 
their relief, and, by pouring on the 
Indians a well timed fire, checked 
the pursuit, and enabled such of the 
fatigue-men as did not fall in the 
first onset, to retire to the fort. 
Thither he sent for assistance, his 
little party being almost overpowered 
by numbers. But the commandant 
imagining that the main body of 
the enemy were approaching for a 
general assault, called in his out- 
posts and shut the gates. 

Major Putnam lay, with his 
Rangers, on an island adjacent to 
the fort. Having heard the mus- 
ketry, and learned that his friend 
Captain Little was in the utmost 
peril, he plunged into the river at 
the head of his corps, and waded 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 55 



through the water towards the 
place of engagement. This brought 
him so near to the fort, that Gen- 
eral Lyman, apprised of his design, 
and unwilling that the lives of a 
few more brave men should be 
exposed to what he deemed inevi- 
table destruction, mounted the 
parapet and ordered him to pro- 
ceed no further. The major only 
took time to make the best short 
apology he could, and marched on. 
This is the only instance in the 
whole course of his military service 
wherein he did not pay the strictest 
obedience to orders; and in this 
instance his motive was highly 
commendable. But when such 
conduct, even if sanctified by suc- 
cess, is passed over with impunity, 
it demonstrates that all is not right 



56 LIFE OF 

in the military system. In a j 
disciplined army, such as that of j 
the United States lx.'came under ! 
General Washington, an officer i 
guilty of a slighter violation of or- I 
ders, however elevated in rank or j 
meritorioiBB in service, would have 
been brought before the bar of a 
court-martial. 

The Rangers of Putnam soon 
opened their way for a junction 
with the little handful of regulars, 
who still obstinately maintained 
their ground. By his advice the 
whole rushed impetuously with 
shouts and huzzas into the swamp. 
The savages fled on every side, 
and were chased, with no incon- 
siderable loss on their part, as 
long as the daylight lasted. On 
ours only one man was killed in ; 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 57 

the pursuit. His death was im- 
mediately revenged by that of the 
Indian who shot him. This In- 
dian was one of the runners — a 
chosen body of active young men, 
who are made use of not only to 
procure intelligence and convey 
tidings, but also to guard the rear 
on a retreat. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1757. 

We come to the campaign when 
General Abercrombie took the 
command at Fort Edward. That 
general ordered Major Putnam, 
with sixty men, to proceed by land 
to South-Bay, on Lake George, 
for the purpose of making dis- 
coveries, and intercepting the ene- 
my's parties. The latter, in com- 
pliance .with these orders, ^ posted 



^ 



himself at Wood Creek, near its 
entrance into South -Bay. On this 
bank, which forms a jutting preci- 
pice ten or twelve feet above the 
water, he erected a stone parapet 
thirty feet in length, and masked it 
with young pine trees, cut at a 
distance, and so artfully planted as 
to imitate the natural growth. 
From hence he sent back fifteen of 
his men, who had fallen sick. Dis- 
tress for want of provisions, occa- 
sioned by the length of march, and 
time spent on this temporary forti- 
fication, compelled him to deviate 
from a rule he had established, 
never to permit a gun to be fired 
but at an enemy while on a scout. 
He was now obliged himself to 
shoot a buck, which had jumped 
into tho creek, in order to eke out 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 59 



their scanty subsistence until the 
fourth day after the completion of 
the works. 

About ten o'clock that evening, 
one of the men on duty at the 
margin of the bay, informed him 
that a fleet of bark canoes, filled 
with men, was steering towards the 
mouth of the oreek. He imme- 
diately called in "vU his sentinels, 
and ordered every man to his post. 
A profound stillness reigned in the 
atmosphere, and the full moon 
shone with uncommon brightness. 
The creek which the enemy entered, 
is about six rods wide, and the bank 
opposite to the parapet above twenty 
feet high. It was intended to per- 
mit the canoes in front to pass — 
they had accordingly just passed, 
when a soldier accidentally struck 



60 LIFE OF 



his firelock against a stone. The 
commanding officer in the van 
canoe lieard tlie noise, and repeated 
several times the savage watch- 
word, — Owisir! Instantly the ca- 
noes huddled together, with their 
centre precisely in front of the 
WQrks, covering the creek for a 
considerable distance above and 
below. 

The officers appeared to be in 
deep consultation, and the fleet on 
the point of returning, when Major 
Putnam, who had ordered his men 
in the most peremptory inanner not 
to fire until he should set the ex- 
ample, gave the siirnal by discharg- 
ing his piece. They fired. No- 
thing could exceed the inextricable 
confusion and apparent consterna- 
tion occasioned by this well-con- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 61 

certed attack. But, at last, the 
enemy finding, from the unfrequen- 
cy (though there was no absolute 
intermission) in the firing, that the 
number of our men must be small, 
resolved to land below and surround 
them. Putnam, apprehensive of 
this from the movement, sent Lieu- 
tenant Robert Durkee, with twelve 
men, about thirty rods down the 
creek, who arrived in time to re- 
pulse the party which attempted to 
land. Another small detachment 
under Lieutenant Parsons, was or- 
dered up the creek to prevent any 
similar attempt. In the mean time 
Major Putnam kept up, through the 
whole night, an incessant and dead- 
ly fire on the main body of the 
enemy, without receiving any thing 
in return but shot void of effect, 



62 LIFE OF 



accompanied with dolorous groans, i 
miserable shrieks, and dismal sa- j 
age yells. After day-break he | 
was advised that one part of the 
enemy had effected a landing con- 
siderably below, and were rapidly 
advancing to cut off his retreat. 
Apprised of the great superiority 
still opposed to him, as well as of the 
situation of his own soldiers, some 
of whom were entirely destitute of 
ammunition, and the rest reduced 
to one or two rounds per man, he 
commanded them to swing their 
packs. By hastening the retreat, 
in good order, they had just time to 
retire far enough up the creek to 
prevent being enclosed. During 
this long-continued action, in which 
the Americans had slain at least 
five times their own number, only 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 63 

one Provincial and one Indian were 
wounded on their side. These un- 
fortunate men had been sent off for 
camp in the night, with two men 
to assist them, and directions to 
proceed by Wood-Creek as the 
safest, though not the shortest route. 
But having taken the nearest way, 
they were pursued and overtaken 
by the Indians, who, from the blood 
on the leaves and bushes, believed 
that they were on the trail of our 
whole party. The wounded, de- 
spairing of mercy, and unable to 
fly, insisted that the well soldiers 
should make their escape, which, 
on a moment's deliberation, they 
effected. The Provincial, whose 
thigh was broken by a ball, upon 
the approach of the savages fired 
his piece, and killed three of them ; 



64 LIFE OF 



after which he was quickly hacked 
in pieces. The Indian, however, 
was saved alive. This man Major 
Putnam saw afterwards in Canada, 
where he likewise learned that his 
enemy, in the rencounter at Wood- 
Creek, consisted of five hundred 
French and Indians, under the 
command of the celebrated partisan 
Molang, and that no party, since 
the war, had suffered so severely, 
as more than one-half of those who 
went out never returned. 

Our brave little company, re- 
duced to forty in number, had pro- 
ceeded along the bank of the creek 
about an hour's march, when Ma- 
jor Putnam, being in front, was 
fired upon by a party just at hand. 
He, rightly appreciating the advan- 
tage often obtained by assuming a 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 65 



bold countenance on a critical oc- 
casion, in a stentorophonic tone, 
ordered his men to rush on the en- 
emy, and promised that they should 
soon give a good account of them. 
It proved to be a scout of Provin- 
cials, who conceived they were 
firing upon the French ; but the 
commanding officer, knowing Put- 
nam's voice, cried out, " tliat they 
were all friends." — Upon this the 
major told him abruptly, " that, 
friends or enemies, they all de- 
served to be hanged for not killing 
more when they had so fair a shot." 
In fact, but one man was mortally 
wounded. While these things were 
transacted, a faithful soldier, whose 
ammunition had been nearly ex- 
hausted, made his way to the fort, 
and gave such information, that 



66 LIFE OF 



General Lyinan was detachod with 
five hundred men to cover the re- 
treat. Major Putnam met them at 
only twelve miles distance from 
the fort, to which they returned the 
next day. 

In the winter of 1757, when 
Colonel Haviland was command- 
ant at Fort Edward, the barracks 
adjoining to the north-west bastion 
took fire. They extended within 
twelve feet of the magazine, which 
contained three hundred barrels of 
powder. On its first discovery, 
the fire raged with great violence. 
The commandant endeavoured, in 
vain, by discharging some pieces 
of heavy artillery against the sup- 
porters of this flight of barracks, 
to level them to the ground. Put- 
nam arrived from the island where 



GENERAL PtJTNAM. 67 

he was* stationed at the moment 
when the blaze approached that 
end which was contiguous to the 
magazine. Instantly a vigorous 
attempt was made to extinguish the 
conflagration. A way was opened 
by a postern gate to the I'iver, 
and the soldiers were employed in 
bringing water ; which he, having 
mounted on a ladder to the eaves of 
the building, received and threw 
upon the flame. It continued, not- 
withstanding their utmost efforts, 
to gain upon them. He stood, en- 
veloped in smoke, so near the sheet 
of fire, that a pair of thick blanket 
mittens were burnt entirely from 
his hands ; he was supplied with 
another pair dipped in water. Col. 
Haviland, fearing that he would 
perish in the flames, called to him 



68 LtFE OF 



to come down. But he entreated 
that he miglit be sufTered to remain, 
since destruction must inevitably 
ensue if their exertions should be 
remitted. The gallant comman- 
dant, not less astonished than 
charmed at the boldne^ss of his 
conduct, forbade any more effjcts 
to be carried out of the fort, ani- 
mated the men to redoubled dili- 
gence, and exclaimed, " If we must 
be blown up, we will go all to- 
gether." At last, when the bar- 
racks were seen to be tumbling, 
Putnam descended, placed himself 
at the interval, and continued from 
an incessant rotation of replenished 
buckets to j)our water upon the 
magazine. The outside planks 
were already consumed by the 
proximity of the fire, and as only 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 69 

one thickness of timber intervened, 
the trepidation now become general 
and extreme. Putnam, still un- 
daunted, covered with a cloud of 
cinders, and scorched with the in- 
tensity of the heat, maintained his 
position until the fire subsided, and 
the danger was wholly over. He 
had contended for one hour and q. 
half with that terrible element. 
His legs, his thighs, his arms, and 
his face were blistered ; and when 
he pulled off his second pair of 
mittens, the skin from his hands 
and fingers followed them. It was 
a month before he recovered. The 
commandant, to whom his merits 
had before endeared him, could not 
stifle the emotions of gratitude, due 
to the man who had been so in- 
strumental in preserving the 



70 



I,IFE OF 



magazine, the fort, and the gar- 
rison. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1758. 

The repulse before Ticonderoga 
took place in 1758. General 
Abercrombie, the British com- 
mander-in-chief in America, con- 
ducted the expedition. His army, 
which amounted to nearly sixteen 
thousand Regulars and Provincials, 
was amply supplied with artillery 
and military stores. This well- 
appointed corps passed over Lake 
George, and landed without oppo- 
sition at the point of destination. 
The troops advanced in columns. 
Lord Howe, having Major Putnam 
with him, was in front of ihc cen- 
tre. A body of about five hundred 
men (the advance or pickets of 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 71 

the French army), which had fled 
at first, began to skirmish with our 
left. " Putnam,'' said Lord Howe, 
" what means that firing ?" *' I 
know not, but with your Lord- 
ship's leave will see," replied the 
former. " I "wdll accompany you," 
rejoined the gallant young noble- 
man. In vain did Major Putnam 
attempt to dissuade him by say- 
ing — " My Lord, if I am killed, 
the loss of my life will be of little 
consequence, but the preservation 
of yours is of infinite importance 
to this army." The only answer 
was, " Putnam, your life is as 
dear to you as mine is to me ; I 
am determined to go." One hun- 
dred of the van, under Major Put- 
nam, filed off with Lord Howe. 
They soon met the left flank of 



72 LIFE or 



the enemy's advance, by \vhc£;o j 
first firc his Lordship fell. It was i 
a loss indeed ; and particularly | 
felt in the operations which oc- i 
currcd three days afterwards. His I 
manners and his virtues had made '■ 
him the idol of the army. From ! 
his first arrival in America, he had ( 
accommodated himself and his ' 
rsgiment to the peculiar nature of i 
Ute service. Exemplary to the \ 
officer, a friend of the soldier, the ; 
model of discipline, he had not i 
fhiled to encounter every hardship j 
and hazard. Nothing could bo j 
more calculated * > inspii-c men f 
with the rash anmiation of rage, ! 
or to temper it with the cool per^ f 
severance of revenge, than the [ 
sight of such a hero, so beloved, : 
fallen in his country's cause. It j 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 73 

had the effect. Putnam's party, 
having cut their way obliquely 
through the enemy's ranks, and 
having been joined by Captain 
D'Ell, with twenty men, together 
with some other small parties, 
charged them so furiously in rear, 
that nearly three hundred were 
killed on the spot, and one hun- 
dred and forty-eight made pris- 
oners. 

In the mean time, from the un- 
skilfulness of the guides, some of 
our columns were bewildered. 
The left wing, seeing Putnam's 
party in their front, advancing 
over the dead bodies towards them, 
commenced a brisk and heavy 
fire, which killed a sergeant and 
several privates. Nor could they, 
by sounds or signs, be convinced 



74 LIFE OF 



of their mistake, until Major Put- 
nam, preferring (if heaven had 
thus ordained it) the loss of his 
own life to the loss of the lives of 
his brave associates, ran through 
the midst of the flying balls, and 
prevented the impending catastro- 
phe. 

The tender feelings which Ma- 
jor Putnam possessed taught him 
to respect an unfortunate Toe, and 
to strive, by every lenient art in 
his power, to alleviate the miseries 
of war. For this purpose he re- 
mained on the field until it l3egan 
to grow dark, employed in col- 
lecting such of the enemy as were 
left wounded, to one place ; he gave 
them all the liquor and little re- 
freshments which he could procure; 
he furnished to each of them a 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 7?) 



blanket ; he put three blankets un- 
der a French serjeant v/ho was 
badly wounded through the body, 
and placed hjm in an easy posture 
by the side of a tree : the poor 
fellow could only squeeze his hand 
with an expressive grasp. " Ah," 
said Major Putnam, " depend upon 
it, my brave soldier, you shall be 
brought to the camp as soon as 
possible, and the same care shall 
be taken of you as if you were 
my brother." The next morn- 
ing Major Rogers was sent to re- 
connoitre the field, and to bring 
off the wounded prisoners ; but 
finding the wounded unable to help 
themselves, in order to save trouble, 
he despatched every one of them 
to the world of spirits. Putnam's 
was not the only heart that bled. 



76 LIFE OP 

The Provincial and British oflicers, 
who became acquainted with the 
fact, were struck with inexpressible 
horror 

Ticonderoga is* surrounded on 
three sides by water; on the 
fourth, for some distance, extends 
a dangerous morass ; the remain- 
der was then fortified with a line 
eight feet high, and planted with 
artillery. For one hundred yards 
in front the plain was covered with 
great trees, cut for the purpose of 
defence, whose interwoven and 
sharpened branches projected out- 
wards. Notwithstanding these im- 
pediments, the engineer who had 
been employed to reconnoitre, re- 
ported as his opinion, that the 
works might be carried with mus. 
kctry. The difficulty and delay 



J 



GENERAL PUtNAM. 7t 



of dragging the battering cannon 
over ground almost impracticable, 
induced the adoption of this fatal 
advice ; to which, however, a rumour 
that the garrison, already consist^ 
ing of four or five thousand men, 
was on the point of being aug- 
mented with three thousand more, 
probably contributed. The attack 
was as spirited in execution as ill- 
judged in design. The assailants, 
after having been for more than 
four hours exposed to a most fatal 
fire, without making any impres- 
sion by their reiterated and obsti- 
nate proofs of valour, w^ere ordered 
to retreat. Major Putnam, who 
had acted as an aid in brinmnfr 
the Provincial regiments succes- 
sively to action, assisted in pre- 
serving order. It was said that a 



78 



great number of the enemy were 
shot in the head, every otiicr part 
having been concealed behind their 
works. The loss on our side was 
upwards of two thousand killed 
and wounded. Twenty -five hun- 
dred stand of arms were taken by 
the French. Our army, after sus- 
taining this havock, retreated with 
such extraordinary precipitation, 
that they regained their camp at 
the southward of Lake George the 
evening after the action. 

The successes in other parts of 
America made ''n v-.ds for this de- 
feat. Louisbouig, after a vigorous 
siege, was reduced by Gener- 
als Amherst and Wolf: Fron- 
tenac, a post of importance on 
the communication between Lake 
Ontario and the St. Lawrence, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 79 

surrendered to Colonel Bradstreet : 
and Fort Du Quesne, situated at 
the confluence of the Monongahela 
with the Ohio (the possession of 
which had kindled the flame of 
war that now spread through the 
four quarters of the globe), was 
captured by General Forbes. 

ADVENTURES WITH THE INDIANS. 

A few adventures, in which the 
public interests were little concerned, 
but which, from their peculiarity, 
appear worthy of being preserved, 
happened before the conclusion of 
the year. As one day Major Put- 
nam chanced to lie with a batteau 
and five men, on the eastern shore 
of the Hudson, near the Rapids, 
contiguous to which Fort Miller 
stood, his men on the opposite bank 



80 LIFK OF 



had given him to understand, that 
a large body of savages were in 
his rear, and would be upon him 
in a moment. To stay and be 
sacrificed — to attempt crossing and 
be shot — or to go down the falls, 
with an almost absolute certainty 
of being drowned, were the sole 
alternatives that presented them- 
selves to his choice. So instanta* 
neously was the latter adopted, 
that one man who had rambled a 
little from the party, was, of neces- 
sity, left, and fell a miserable victim 
to savage barbarity. 

The Indians arrived on the shore 
soon enough to fire many balls on 
thejDatteau before it could be got 
under way. No sooner had our 
batteau-men escaped, by favour of 
the rapidity of the current, beyond 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 81 

the reach of musket-shot, than 
death seemed only to have been 
avoided in one form to be encoun- 
tered in another not less terrible. 
Prominent rocks, latent shelves, 
absorbmg eddies, and abrupt de- 
scents, for a quarter of a mile, af- 
forded scarcely the smallest chance 
of escaping without a miracle, 
Putnam, trusting himself to a good 
Providence, whose kindness he had 
often experienced, rather than- to 
men, whose tenderest mercies are 
cruelty, was now seen to place 
himself sedately at the helm, and 
afforded an astonishing specta- 
cle of serenity. His companions, 
with a mixture of terror, admi- 
ration, and wonder, saw him inces- 
santly changing the course, to 
avoid the jaws of ruin, that seemed 



82 LIFK OF 

expanded to swallow the whirling 
boat. 

Twice he turned it fairly round 
to shun the rifts of rocks. Amidst 
these eddies, in which there was 
the greatest danger of its founder- 
ing, at one moment the sides were 
exposed to the fury of the waves ; 
then the stem, and next the how 
glanced obliquely onward, with 
inconceivable velocity. With not 
less amazement the savages beheld 
him sometimes mounting the bil- 
lows, then plunging abruptly down, 
at other times skilfully veering from 
the rocks, and shooting through 
the only narrow passage ; until, 
at last, they viewed the boat safely 
gliding on the smooth surface of 
the stream below. 

At this sight, it is asserted, that 



^ 1 

GENERAL PUTNAM. 85 

these rude sons of nature were 
affected with the same kiod of 
superstitious veneration which the 
Europeans, in the dark ages, en- 
tertained for some of their most 
valorous champions. They deemed 
the man invulnerable, whom their 
balls, on his pushing from shore, 
could not touch ; and whom they 
had seen steering in safety down 
the rapids that had never before 
been passed. They conceived it 
would be an affront against the 
Great Spirit to attempt to kill this 
favoured mortal with powder and 
ball, if they should ever see and 
know him again. 

In the month of August, five 
hundred men were employed, un- 
der the orders of Majors Rogers, 
and Putnam, to watch the motions 



86 LIFE OF 

of the enemy near Ticonderoga. 
At South-Bay they separated the 
party into two equal divisions, and 
Rogers took a position on Wood- 
Creek, twelve miles distant from 
Putnam. 

Upon being, some time after- 
wards, discovered, they formed a 
reunion, and concerted measures 
for returning to Fort Edward. 
Their march through the woods 
was in three divisions by files : 
the right commanded by Rogers, 
the left by Putnam, and the centre 
by Captain D'EIl. The first night 
they encamped on the banks of 
Clear River, about a mile from 
old Fort Ann, which had been for- 
merly built by General Nicholson. 
Next morning Major Rogers, and 
a British officer named Irwin, in- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 87 

cautiously suffered themselves, from 
a spirit of false emulation, to be 
engaged in firing at a mark. No- 
thing could have been more repug- 
nant to the military principles of 
Putnam than such conduct, or rep- 
robated by him in more pointed 
terms. As soon as the heavy dew 
which had fallen the preceding 
night would permit, the detachment 
moved in one body, Putnam being 
in front, D'Ell in the centre, and 
Rogers in the rear. The impervi- 
ous growth of shrubs and under- 
brush that had sprung up, where 
the land had been partially cleared 
some years before, occasioned this 
change in the order of march. 

At the moment of moving, the 
famous French partisan Molang, 
who had been sent with five hun- 



88 LIFE OF 

drcd men to intercept our party, 
was not more than one mile and a 
half distant from them. Having 
heard the firing, he hastened to lay 
an ambuscade precisely in that part 
of the wood most favourable to his 
project. Major Putnam was just 
emerging from the thicket, into the 
common forest, when the enemy 
rose, and with discordant yells and 
whoops, commenced an attack up- 
on the right of his division. Sur- 
prised, but undismayed, Putnam 
halted, returned the fire, and passed 
the word for the other divisions to ad- 
vance for his support. D'Ellcame. 
The action, though widely scatter- 
ed, and principally fought between 
man and man, soon grew general 
and intensely warm. It would be 
as difficult as useless to describe 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 89 

this irregular and ferocious mode 
of fighting. 

Rogers came not up ; but, as he 
declared afterwards, formed a cir- 
cular fde between our party and 
Wood-Creek, to prevent their being 
taken in rear or enfiladed. Suc- 
cessful as he commonly was, his 
conduct did not always pass with- 
out unfavourable imputation. Not- 
withstanding, it was a current say- 
ing in the camp, " that Rogers al- 
ways sent^ but Putnam led his men 
to action," yet, in justice, it ought 
to be remarked here, that the lat- 
ter has never been known, in rela- 
ting the story of this day's disaster, 
to affix any stigma upon the con- 
duct of the former. 

Major Putnam, perceiving it 
would be impracticable to cross 



90 LIFE OF 

the creek, determined to maintain 
his ground. Inspired by his exam- 
ple, the officers and men behaved 
with great bravery ; sometimes 
they fought aggregately in open 
view, and sometimes individually 
under cover ; taking aim from be- 
hind the bodies of trees, and acting 
in a manner independent of each 
other. For himself, having dis- 
charged his fusee several times, at 
length it missed fire, while the 
muzzle was pressed against the 
breast of a large and well propor- 
tioned savage. This warrior, 
availing himself of the indefensible 
attitude of his adversary, with a 
tremendous war-whoop, sprang for- 
waru, with his lifted hatchet, and 
compelled him to surrender ; and 
havina disarmed and bound him 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 91 

fast to a tree, returned to the 
battle. 

The intrepid Captains D'Ell and 
Harman, who now commanded, 
were forced to give ground for a 
little distance; the savages, con- 
ceiving this to be the certain 
harbinger of victory, rushed impet- 
uously on, with dreadful and 
redoubled cries. But our two 
partisans, collecting a handful of 
brave men, gave the pursuers so 
warm a reception as to oblige them, 
in turn, to retreat a little beyond 
the spot at which the action had 
commenced. Here they made a 
stand. This change of ground 
occasioned the tree to which Put- 
nam was tied to be directly between 
the fire of the two parties. Hu- 
man imagination can hardly figure 



92 LIFE OF 

to itself a more 'deplorable situation. 
The balls flew incessantly from 
either side, many struck the tree, 
while some passed through the 
sleeves and skirts of his coat. In 
this state of jeopardy, unable to 
move his body, to stir his limbs, or 
even to incline his head, he re- 
mained more than an hour — so 
equally balanced, and so obstinate 
was the fight ! 

At one moment, while the battle 
swerved in favour of the enemy, a 
young savage chose an odd way 
of discovering his humour. He 
found Putnam bound. He might 
have dispatched him at a blow. 
But he loved better to excite the 
terrors of the prisoner, by hurling 
a tomahawk at his head ; or rather 
it should seem his object ^vas to 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 93 

see how near he could throw it 
without touching him — the weapon 
struck in the tree a number of times 
at a hair's breadth distance from the 
mark. When the Indian had fin- 
ished his amusement, a French bas- 
officer (a much more inveterate 
savage by nature, though descend- 
ed from so humane and polished 
a nation) perceiving Putnam, came 
up to him, and, levelling a fuzee 
within a foot of his breast, attempt- 
ed to discharge it — it missed fire. 
Ineffectually did the intended victim 
solicit the treatment due to his situa- 
tion, by repeating that he was a 
prisoner of war. The degenerate 
Frenchman did not understand the 
language of honour or of nature : 
deaf to their voice, and dead to 
sensibility, he violently, and re- 



94 



LIFE OF 



pcatedly, pushed the muzzle of his 
gun against Putnam's ribs, and 
finally gave him a cruel blow on 
the jaw with the but-end of his 
piece. After this dastardly deed 
he left him. 

At length the active intrepidity 
of D'Ell and Harman, seconded 
by the persevering valour of their 
followers, prevailed. They drove 
from the field the enemy, who left 
about ninety dead behind them. 
As they were retiring, Putnam was 
untied by the Indian who had made 
him prisoner, and whom he after- 
wards called master. Having been 
conducted for some distance from 
the place of action, he was stripped 
of his coat, vest, stockings, and 
shoes ; loaded with as many of the 
packs of the wounded as could be 
I . 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



95 



piled upon him ; strongly pinioned, 
and his wrists tied as closely to- 
gether as they could be pulled with 
a cord. 

After he had marched, through 
no pleasant paths, in this painful 
manner, for many a tedious mile, 
the party (who were excessively 
fatigued) halted to breathe. His 
hands were now immoderately 
swelled from the tightness of the 
ligature ; and the pain had become 
intolerable. His feet were so much 
scratched, that the blood dropped 
fast from them. Exhausted with 
bearing a burden above his strength, 
and frantic with torments exquisite 
beyond endurance, he entreated 
the Irish interpreter to implore, as 
the last and only gra%e he desired 
of the savages, that they would 



96 



LIFE or 



knock him on the head and take 
his scalp at once, or loose liis hands. 
A French officer, instantly inter- 
posing, ordered his hands to be 
unbound, and some of the packs 
to be taken off. By this time the 
Indian who captured him, and had 
been absent with the wounded, 
coming up, gave him a pair of moc- 
casins, and expressed great indig- 
nation at the unworthy treatment 
his prisoner had suffered. 

That savage chief again return- 
ed to the care of the wounded, and 
the Indians, about two hundred in 
number, went before the rest of 
the party to the place where the 
whole were that night to encamp. 
They took with them Major Put- 
nam, on whom, besides innumer- 
able other outrages, they had the 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 97 

barbarity to inflict a deep wound 
with the tomahawk in the left cheek. 
His sufferings were in this place to 
be consummated. A scene of horror, 
infinitely greater than had ever 
met his eyes before, was now pre- 
paring. It was determined to roast 
him alive. For this purpose they 
led him into a dark forest, stripped 
him naked, bound him to a tree, 
and piled dry brush, with other 
fuel, at a small distance, in a circle 
round him. They accompanied 
their labours, as if for his funeral 
dirge, with screams and sounds in- 
imitable but by savage voices. Then 
they set the piles on fire. A sud- 
den shower damped the rising flame. 
Still they strove to kindle it, until, 
at last, the blaze ran fiercely round 
the circle. Major Putnam soon 



98 LIFE OP 



beiran to feci the scorchiiii; heat. 
His hands were so tied that he 
could mave his body. He often 
shifted sides as the fire approached. 
This sight, at the very idea of 
which all but savages must shud* 
der, aftbi'dcd the highest diversion 
lo his inhuman tormentors, who 
demonstrated the delirium of their 
joy by correspondent yella, dances^ 
and gesticulations. He saw clearly 
that his fmal hour was inevitably 
come. He summoned all his re- 
solution, and composed his mind^ 
as far as the circumstances could 
admit, to bid an eternal farewell to 
all he held most dear. To quit 
the world would scarcely have cost 
a single pang ; but for the idea of 
home, but for the remembrance of 
domestic endearments, of the af- 



GENEllAL PUTNAM. 99 

fectionate partner of his soul, and 
of their beloved offspring* His 
thought was ultimately fixed on a 
happier state of existence, beyond 
the tortures he was l)eginning to 
endure. The bitterness of death, 
even of that death which is accom- 
panied with the keenest agonies, 
was, in a manner, past — nature, 
with a feeble struggle, was quitting 
its last hold on sublunary things — 
when a French officer rushed 
through the crowd, opened a way 
by scattering the burning brands, 
and unbound the victim. It was 
Molang himself-^to whom a savage, 
unwilling to see another human 
sacrifice immolated, had rui\ and 
communicated the tidings. That 
commandant spurned and severely 
reprimanded the barbarians, whose 



100 LIFE OF 



nocturnal powwas and hellish or- 
gies he suddenly ended. Putnam 
did not want for feeling or gratitude. 
The French commander, fearing 
to trust him alone with them, re- 
mained until he could deliver him 
in safety into the hands of his 
master. 

PUTNAM A PRISO>'Ell. 

The savage approached his 
prisoner kindly, and seemed to 
treat him with particular affection. 
He offered him some hard biscuit ; 
but finding that he could not chew 
them, on account of the blow he 
had received from the Frenchman, 
this more humane savage soaked 
some of the biscuit in water, and 
made him suck the pulp-like part. 
Determined, however, not to loose 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 101 

his captive (the refreshment being 
finished) he took the moccasins 
from his feet, and tied them to one 
of his wrists : then directing him 
to he down on his back upon the 
bare ground, he stretched one arm 
to its full length, and bound it fast 
to a young tree; the other arm 
was extended and bound in the 
same manner — his legs were 
stretched apart and fastened to two 
saplings. Then a number of tall, 
but slender poles were cut down, 
which, with some long bushes, 
were laid across his body from 
head to foot : on each side lay as 
many Indians as could conveniently 
find lodging, in order to prevent 
the possibility of his escape. In 
this disagreeable and painful pos- 
ture he remained until morning. 



102 



LIFE or 



Durinir this night, the longest and 
most dreary conceivable, our hero 
used to relate that he felt a ray of 
cheerfulness come casually across 
his mind, and could not even re- 
frain from smiling when he reflect- 
ed on this ludicrous group for a 
painter, of which he himself was 
the principal figure. 

The next day he was allowed 
his blanket and moccasins, and 
permitted to march without car- 
rying any pack, or receiving any 
insult. To allay his extreme 
hunger, a little bear's meat was 
given, which he sucked through 
his teeth. At night the party 
arrived at Ticonderoga, and the 
prisoner was placed under the 
care of a French guard. The 
savages, who had been prevented 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 103 

from glutting their diabolical thirst 
for blood, took other opportunity 
of manifesting their malevolence 
for the disappointment, by horrid 
grimaces and angry gestures ; but 
they were suffered no more to offer 
violence or personal indignity to him. 
After having been examined by 
the Marquis de Montcalm, Major 
Putnam was conducted to Montreal 
by a French ofl^icer, who treated 
him with the greatest indulgence 
and humanity. 

At this place were several 
prisoners. Colonel Peter Schuy- 
ler, remarkable for his philanthropy, 
generosity, and friendship, was of 
the number. No sooner had he 
heard of Major Putnam's arrival, 
than he went to the interpreter's 
quarters, and inquired whether he 



104 



had a Provincial major in his cus- 
tody? He found Major Putnam 
in a comfortless condition — with- 
out coat, waistcoat, or hose — the 
remnant of his clothing miserably 
dirty and ragged — his beard long 
and squalid-— his legs torn by 
thorns and briers — his face gashed 
with wounds and swollen with 
bruises. Colonel Schuyler, irri- 
tated beyond all sufTerance at such 
a sight, could scarcely restrain his 
speech within limits, consistent 
with the prudence of a prisoner 
and the meekness of a Christian. 
Major Putnam was immediately 
treated according to his rank, 
clothed in a decent manner, and 
supplied with money by that liberal 
and sympathetic patron of the dis. 
tressed. 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 105 

The capture of Frontignac by 
General Bradstreot afibrded occa- 
sion Ibr an exchange of prisoners. 
Colonel Schuyler was comprehend- 
ed in the cartel. A generous 
spirit can never be satisfied with 
imposing tasks for its generosity to 
accomplish. Apprehensive if it 
should be known that Putnam v/as 
a distinguished partisan, his libera- 
tion might be retarded, and know- 
ing that there were officers who, 
from the length of their captivity, 
had a claim of priority to exchange, 
he had, by his happy address, in- 
duced the governor to offer, that 
whatever officer he might think 
proper to nominate should be inclu- 
ded in the present cartel. With 
great politeness in manner, but 
seeming indifference as to object, 



106 LIFE OF 

he expressed his warmest acknow- 
ledgments to the governor, and 
said, " There is an old man here, 
who is a provincial major, and 
wishes to be at home with his wife 
and children ; he can do no good 
here or anywhere else ; I believe 
your Excellency had better keep 
some of the young men, who have 
no wife or children to care for, and 
let the old fellow go home with me." 
This justifiable finesse had the 
desired eflect, and Putnam was 
liberated and returned home. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1760. 

We now arrive at the period 
when the prowess of Britain, vic- 
torious alike by sea and by land, 
in the new and in the old world, 
had elevated that name to the 



GENERAL PUTNAM, 107 

zenith of national glory. The con- 
quest of Quebec opened the way 
for the total reduction of Canada. 
On the side of the lakes, Amherst 
having captured the posts of Ticon- 
deroga and Crown Point, applied 
himself to strengthen the latter. 
Putnam, who had been raised to 
the rank of lieutenant-colonel, mid 
present at these operations, v/as 
employed the remainder of this and 
some part of the succeeding rea- 
son, in superintending the parties 
which were detached to procure 
timber and other materials fo>' the 
fortification. 

In 1760, General Amherat, a 
sagacious, humane, and experienced 
commander, planned the termina- 
tion of the war in Canada, by a 
bloodless conquest. For this pur- 



108 



pose, three armies were destined to 
co-operate, by difiercnt routes, 
against Montreal, the only remain- 
ing place of strength the enemy 
held in that country. The corps 
formerly commanded by General 
Wolfe, now by General Murray, 
was ordered to ascend the river St. 
Lawrence ; another, under Colonel 
Haviland, to penetrate by the Isle 
aux Noix ; and the third, consist- 
ing of about ten thousand men, 
commanded by the grncral himself, 
aAer passing up the Mohawk river, 
and taking its course by Lake 
Ontario, was to form a junction by 
fallinc[ down the St. Lawrence. In 
this progress, more than one occa- 
sion presented itself to manifest 
the intrepidity and soldiership of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam. Two 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 109 



armed vessels obstructed the pass- 
age, and prevented the attack on 
Oswegatchie. Putnam, with one 
thousand men, in fifty batteaiix, 
undertook to board them. This 
dauntless officer, ever as sparing of 
the blood of others as prodigal of 
his own, to accomplish it with the 
less loss, put himself, with a cho- 
sen crew, a beetle and wedges, in 
the van, with a design to wedge 
the rudders, so that the vessels 
should not be able to turn their 
broadsides, or perform any other 
manceuvre. All the men in his 
little fleet were ordered to strip to 
their waistcoats, and advance at 
the same time. He promised, if he 
lived, to join and show them the 
way up the sides. Animated by 
so daring an example, they moved 



no 



LIFE Ot 



swiftly, in profound stillness, as to 
certain victory or death. The 
people on board the ships, beholdinijr 
the good countenance with which 
they approached, ran one of the 
vessels on shore, and struck the 
colours of the other. Had it not 
been for the dastardly conduct of 
the ship's company in the latter, 
who compelled the captain to haul 
down his ensign, he would have 
given the assailants a bloody recep- 
tion ; for the vessels were well 
provided with spars, nettings, and 
every customary instrument of an- 
noyance as well as defence. 

It now remained to attack the 
fortress, which stood on an island, 
and seemed to have been rendered 
inaccessible by a high abattis of 
black ash, that everywhere project- 



GiENERAL PUTNAM* 111 

ed over the water. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Putnam proposed a mode of 
attack, and offered his services to 
carry it into effect. The general 
approved the proposal. Our par* 
tisan, accordingly, caused a suffi- 
cient number of boats to be fitted 
for the enterprise. The sides of 
each boat were surrounded with 
fascines, musket proof, which co- 
vered the men completely. A wide 
plank, twenty feet in length, was 
then fitted to every boat in such 
manner, by having an angular 
piece sawed from- one extremity, 
that, when fastened by ropes on 
both sides of the bow, it might be 
raised or lowered at pleasure. The 
design was, that the plank should 
be held erect while the oarsmen 
forced the bow with the utmost ex- 



112 LIFE OF 

ertion against the abattis ; and that 
afterwards being dropped on the 
pointed brush, it should serve as a 
kind of bridge to assist the men in 
passing over tliem. 

Licutenant*-Colonel Putnam hav- 
ing made his dispositions to attempt 
the escalade in many places at the 
same moment, advanced with his 
boats in admirable order. The 
garrison perceiving these extraordi- 
nary and unexpected machines, 
waited not the assault, but capitu- 
lated. Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam 
was particularly honoured by Gen- 
eral Amherst, lor his ingenuity in 
this invention, and promptitude in 
its execution. The three armies 
arrived at Montreal within two 
days of each other ; and the con- 
quest of Canada became complete 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 113 

without the loss of a single drop of 
blood. 

At no great distance from Mon- 
treal stands the savage village 
called Cochnawaga. Here our 
partisan found the Indian chief who 
had formerly made him prisoner. 
The Indian was highly delighted 
to see his old acquaintance, whom 
he entertained in his own well-built 
stone house with great friendship 
and hospitality ; while his guest did 
not discover less satisfaction in an 
opportunity of shaking the brave 
savage by the hand, and proffering 
him protection in this reverse of 
his military fortunes. 

EXPEDITION TO HAVANA. 

When the belligerent powers 
were considerably exhausted, a 



114 LIFE OF 

rupture took place between Great 
Britain and Spain, in the month of 
January, 1762, and an expedition 
was formed that campaign, under 
Lord All)cmarle, against the Ha- 
vana. A body of Provincials, com- 
posed of five hundred men from 
the Jerseys, eight hundred from 
New York, and one thousand from 
Connecticut, joined his lordship. 
General Lyman, who raised the 
regiment of one thousand men in 
Connecticut, being the senior officer, 
coirimanded the whole : of coui-se, 
the immediate command of his 
regiment devolved upon Lieutenant- 
Colonel Putnam. The fleet that 
carried these troops sailed from 
New York, and arrived safely on 
tlie coast of Cuba. There a ter- 
rible storm arose, and the transport 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 1 15 

in which Lieutenant- Colonel Put- 
nam had embarked with five hun- 
dred men, was wrecked on a rift 
of craggy rocks. The weather 
was so tempestuous, and the surf, 
which ran mountain-high, dashed 
with such violence against the ship, 
that the most experienced seamen 
expected it would soon part asunder. 
The rest of the fleet, so far from 
being able to afford assistance, with 
difficulty rode out the gale. In 
this deplorable situation, as the 
only expedient by which they could 
be saved, strict order was main- 
tained, and all those people who 
best understood the use of tools, 
were instantly employed in con- 
structing rafts from spars, plank, 
and whatever other materials could 
be procured. 



116 LIFE OF 



There happened to be on board 
a large quantity of strong cords 
(the same that arc used in the 
whale fishery), which, being fasten- 
ed to the raits, after the lirst had 
with inconceivable hazard reached 
the shore, were of infinite service 
in preventing the others from dri- 
ving out to sea, as also in dragging 
them athwart the billows U) the 
beach ; by which means every 
man was finally saved. ^V'ith the 
same presence of mind to take 
advantage of circumstances, and 
the same precaution to prevent 
confusion on similar occasions, how 
many valuable lives, prematurely 
lost, niight have been preserved as 
blessings to their families, their 
friends, and their country ! 

As soon as all were landed, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 117 

Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam fortified 
his camp, that he might not be ex- 
posed to insult from the inhabitants 
of the neighbouring districts, or 
from those of Carthagena, who 
were but twenty- four miles distant. 
Here the party remained unmolest- 
ed several days, until the storm 
had so much abated as to permit 
the convoy to take them off. They 
soon joined the troops before the 
Havana, who, having been several 
weeks in that unhealthy climate, 
already began to grow extremely 
sickly. The opportune arrival of 
the Provincial reinforcement, in 
perfect health, contributed not a 
little to forward the works, and 
hasten the reduction of that impor- 
tant place. But the Prcwincials 
suffered so miserably by sickness 



118 LIFE OF 

afterwards, that very few ever re- 
turned to their native land again. 

CAMPAIGN OP 1764. 

Although a general peace among 
the European powers was ratified 
in 1763, yet the savages on our 
western frontiers still continued their 
hostilities. After they had taken 
several posts. General Bradstreet 
was sent, in 1764, with an army, 
against them. Colonel Putnam, 
then, for the first time, appointed 
to the command of a regiment, was 
on the expedition, as was the Indian 
chief whom I have several times 
had occasion to mention as his 
capturcr, at the head of one hun- 
dred Cochnawaga warriors. 

Before General Bradstreet reach- 
ed Detroit, which the savages in- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 119 

vested, Captain D'Ell, the faithful 
friena and intrepid felloM-soldier 
r^^ Colonel Putuam, had been slain 
in a desperate sally. He having 
been detacitGd with five hundred 
men, in 1763, by General Amherst, 
to raise the siege, found means of 
throwing succour into the fort. But 
the garrison, commanded by Major 
Gladwine, a brave and sensible 
officer, had been so much weakened 
by the lurking and insidious mode 
of war practised by the savages, 
that not a man could be spared to 
co-operate in an attack upon them. 
The commandant would even 
have dissuaded Captain D'Ell from 
the attempt, on account of the great 
disparity in numbers ; but the lat- 
ter, relying on the discipline and 
courage of his men, replied, " God 



120 LIFE OF 

forbid that I should ever disobey 
the orders of my general," and 
immediately disposed thorn for 
action. It was obstinate and 
bloody ; but the vastly superior 
number of the savages enabled 
them to enclose Captain D'Ell's 
party on every side, and compelled 
him, finally, to fight his way, in 
retreat from one stone house to 
another. Having halted to breathe 
a moment, he saw one of his 
bravest sergeants lying at a small 
distance, wounded through the 
thi^h, and wallowing in his blood. 
Whereupon he desired some of the 
men to run and bring the sergeant 
to the house, but they declined it. 
Then declaring, " that he never 
would leave so brave a soldier in 
the field to be tortured by the 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 121 



savages," he ran and endeavoured 
to help him up — at the instant a 
volley of shot dropped them both 
dead together. The party con- 
tinued retreating from house to 
house until they regained the fort ; 
vv'here it was found the conflict had 
been so sharp, and lasted so long, 
that only fifty men remained alive 
of the five hundred who had 
sallied. 

Upon the arrival of General 
Bradstreet, the savages saw that 
all further efforts, in arms, would 
be vain, and accordingly., after 
many fallacious proposals for a 
peace, and frequent tergiversations 
in the negotiation, they concluded 
a treaty, which ended the war in 
America. 

Colonel Putnam, at the expi- 



122 LIFE OF 

ration of ten years from his first 
receiving a commission, after 
having seen as much service, en- 
dured as many hardships, encoun- 
tered as many dangers, and 
acquired as many laurels as any 
officer of his rank, with great sat- 
isfaction laid aside his uniform, 
and returned to his plough. The 
various and uncommon scenes of 
war in which he had acted a re- 
spectable part, his intercourse with 
the world, and intimacy with some 
of the first characters in the army, 
joined with occasional reading, 
had not only brought into view 
whatever talents he possessed from 
nature, but, at the same time, had 
extended his knowledge, and pol- 
ished his manners, to a consider- 
able degree. Not having bec<tme 



GENERAL PUTNA 



M. 123 1 



inflated with pride, or forgetful o 
his old connexions, he had the 
good fortune to possess entirely 
the good will of his fellow citizens. 
No character stood fairer in the 
public eye for integrity, bravery, 
and patriotism. He was employed 
in several offices in his own town, 
anl not unfrequently elected to 
reprpsent it in the General Assem- 
bly. The year after his return to 
private life, the minds of men 
were strangely agitated by an at- 
tempt of the British Parliament tj 
n reduce the memorable Stamp 
Act in America. This germ of 
policy, whose growth was repressed 
by the moderate temperature in 
which k 'ras kept by some admin- 
istrations did not fully disclose its 
fruit unti\ nearly eleven years af- 



124 LIFE OF 



terwards. AH the world knows 
how it then ripened into a civil 
war. 

THE STAMP .ACT. 

On the twenty-second day of 
March, 1705, the Stamp Act re- 
ceived tlie royal issent. It was to 
take place in Aniorica on the first 
day of November following. This 
innovation s{)read a sudden and 
universal alarm. The political 
pulse in the provinces, from Maine 
to Georgia, throbbed in sympathy. 
The Assemblies, in most of these 
colonics, that they might oppose it 
legally and in concert, appointed 
delegates to confer together on the 
subject. This first Congress met, 
early in October, at New York. 
They agreed upon a Declaration of 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 125 

Right* and Grievances of the 
Colonists ; together with separate 
Addresses to the King, Lords and 
Commons of Great Britain. In 
the meantime, the people had de- 
termined, in order to prevent the 
stamped paper from being distribu- 
ted, that the stamp-masters should 
not enter on the execution of their 
office. That office was conferred 
on Mr. Ingersol, of New Haven, 
who was compelled by an insur- 
rection of the people to resign. 

Colonel Putnam, who instigated 
the people to this measure, was 
prevented from attending by acci- 
dent. But he was deputed soon 
after, with two other gentlemen, 
to vv^ait on Governor Fitch on the 
same subject. The questions of the 
governor, and answers of Putnam, 



126 



LIFE OF 



will sorve to indicate the spirit of 
the times. After some conversa- 
tion, the governor asked, " What 
he should do if the stamped paper 
should be sent to him by the king's 
authority ?" Putnam replied, " Lock 
it up until we shall visit you again." 
" And what will you do then ?" 
" We shall expect you to give us 
the key of the room in which it is 
deposited ; and, if you think fit, in 
order to screen yourself from blame, 
you may forewarn us, upon our 
peril, not to enter the room." 
"And what will you do afterwards?" 
" Send it safely back again." " But 
if I should refuse admission ?" " In 
such a case, your house will be 
levelled with the dust in five min- 
utes." It was supposed that a re- 
port of this conversation was one 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 127 



reason why the stamped paper was 
never sent from New York to 
Connecticut. 

Such unanimity in the Provincial 
Assemblies, and decision in the 
yeomanry, carried beyond the At- 
lantic a conviction of the inexpe- 
diency of attempting to enforce the 
new revenue system. The Stamp 
Act being repealed, and the mea- 
sures in a manner quieted, Colonel 
Putnam continued to labour with 
his own hands, at farming, without 
interruption, except, for a little time, 
by the loss of the first joint of his 
right thumb from one accident, and 
the compound fracture of his right 
thigh from another: that thigh, 
being rendered nearly an inch 
shorter than the left, occasioned 
him ever to limp in his walk. 



128 



The Provincial officers and sol- 
diers from Connecticut, who sur- 
vived the conquest of the Havana, 
appointed General Lyman to re- 
ceive the remainder of their prize 
money, in England. A company, 
composed partly of military, and 
partly of other gentlemen, whose 
object was to obtain from the crown 
a grant of land on the Mississippi, 
also committed to him the negotia- 
tion of their affairs. When several 
years had elapsed in applications, 
a grant of land was obtained. In 
1770, General Lyman, with Co- 
lonel Putnam, and two or three 
others, went to explore the situation. 
After a tedious voyage, and a la- 
borious passage up the Mississippi, 
they accomplished their business. 

General Lvman came back to 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 129 

Connecticut with the explorers, but 
soon returned to Natchez: there 
formed an establishment and laid 
his bones. Colonel Putnam placed 
some labourers with provisions and 
farming utensils upon his location ; 
but the increasing troubles shortly 
after ruined the prospect of deriving 
any advantage from that quarter. 

OPENING OF THE REVOLUTION. 

The Revolution now broke forth ; 
and all eyes were turned to find 
the men who, possessed of military 
experience, would dare, in the ap- 
proaching hour of severest trial, to 
lead their undisciplined fellow-citi- 
zens to battle. For none were so 
stupid as not to comprehend, that 
want of success would involve the 
leaders in the punishment of re- 



130 LIFE OF 



bellion. Putnam was among the 
first and most conspicuous wlio 
stepped forth. Although the 
Americans had been, by many 
who wished their subjugation, in- 
discreetly as indiscriminately stig- 
matized with the imputation of 
cowardice — he felt — he knew for 
himself, he was no coward ; and 
from what he had seen and known, 
he believed that his countrymen, 
driven to tlie extremity of defending 
their rights by arms, would find 
no difficulty in wiping away the 
ungenerous aspersion. 

As he happened to be often at 
Boston, lie hold many conversa- 
tions, on these subjects, with 
General Gage, the British Com- 
mander in Chief, Lord Percy, 
Colonel Sheriir, Colonel Small, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 13 1 



and many officers with whom he 
had formerly served, who were 
now at the head-quarters. Being 
often questioned, " in case the dis- 
pute should proceed to hostilities, 
what part he would really take ?" 
he always answered, " with his 
country; and that, let whatever 
might happen, he was prepared to 
abide the consequence." Being 
interrogated, " whether he, who 
had been a witness to the prowess 
and victories of the British fleets 
and armies, did not think them 
equal to the conquest of a country 
which was not the owner of a 
single ship, regiment, or maga- 
zine ?" he rejoined, that " he could 
only say, justice would be on our 
side, and the event with Provi-^ 
dence : but that he had calculated, 



132 LIFE or 



if it required six years for the 
combined forces of England and 
her colonies to conquer such a 
feeble country as Canada, it would, 
at least, take a very long time for 
England alone to overcome her own 
widely extended colonies," which 
were much stronger than Canada : 
That wlien men fought for every- 
thing dear, in what they believed 
to be the most sacred of all causes, 
and in their own native land, they 
would have great advantages over 
their enemies who were not in the 
same situation; and that, having 
taken into view all circumstances, 
for his own part, he fully believed 
that America would not be so 
easily conquered by England as 
those gentlemen seemed to expect." 
Being once, in particular, asked, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



133 



L 



" whether he did not seriously be- 
lieve that a well appointed British 
army of five thousand veterans 
could march through the whole 
continent of America 1" he replied 
briskly, " No doubt, if they be- 
haved civilly, and paid well for 
everything they wanted ; — but" — 
after a moment's pause added — 
" if they should attempt it in a 
hostile manner (though the Ameri- 
can men were out of the question), 
the women, with their ladles and 
broomsticks, would knock them all 
on the head before they had got 
half way through." This was 
the tenor, our hero often said, 
of these amicable interviews ; and 
thus, as it commonly happens in 
disputes about future events which 
depend on opinion, they parted 



134 



LIFE OP 



without conviction, no more to nneet 
in a iViendly manner, until after 
the appeal should have been made 
to Heaven, and the issue confirmed 
by the sword. Jn the mean time, 
to provide against the worst con- 
tingency, the militia in the several 
colonics was sedulously trained ; 
and those select companies, the 
flower of our youth, which were 
denoininatcd minute-men, agreeably 
to the indication of their name, 
held themselves in readiness to 
march at a moment's warning. 

BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 

At length the fatal day arrived, 
when hostilities commenced. Gen- 
eral Gai];c, in the evening of the 



\1 



18th of April, 1775, detached from 
Boston the grenadiers and light 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 137 

infantry of the army, commanded 
by Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, to 
destroy some military and other 
stores deposited by the province at 
Concord. About sunrise the next 
morning, the detachment, on march- 
ing into Lexington, fired upon 
a company of militia who had 
just reassembled ; for having been 
alarmed late at night, with reports 
that the regulars were advancing 
to demolish the stores, they collect- 
ed on their parade, and were dis- 
missed with orders to reassemble 
at beat of drum. It is established 
by the affidavits of more than thirty 
persons who were present, that the 
first fire, which killed eight of the 
militia, then beginning to disperse, 
was given by the British without 
provocation. The spark of war, 



138 LIFE OF 

thus kindled, ran with unexampled 

rapidity, and raged with unwonted 
violence. To repel the aggression, 
the people of the bordering towns 
spontaneously rushed to arms, and 
poured their scattering shot from 
every convenient station upon the 
regulars, who, after marching to 
Concord and destroying the maga- 
zine, would have found their retreat 
intercepted, had they not been re- 
inforced by Lord Percy, with the 
battalion companies of three regi- 
ments, and a body of ii)arines. 
Notwithstanding the junction, they 
were hard pushed, and pursued 
until they could find protection from 
their ships. Of the British, two 
hundred and eighty-three were 
killed, wounded, and taken. The 
Americans had thirty-nine killed, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 139 

nineteen wounded, and two made 
prisoners. 

PUTNAM A MAJOR-GENERAL. 

Nothing could exceed the celerity 
with which the intelligence flew 
everywhere, that blood had been 
shed by the British troops. The 
country, in motion, exhibited but 
one scene of hurry, preparation, 
and revenge. Putnam, who was 
ploughing when he heard the news, 
left his plough in the middle of the 
field, unyoked his team, and with- 
out waiting to change his clothes, 
set off for the theatre of action. 
But finding the British retreated to 
Boston, and invested by a sufficient 
force to watch their movements, he 
came back to Connecticut, levied 
a regiment, under authority of the 



140 LIFE OF 

legisl.iture, and speedily returned 
to Cambridge. He was now pro- 
moted to bo a major-general on the 
Provincial staff, by his colony ; and, 
in a little time, confirmed by Con- 
gress, in the same rank on the 
Continental establishment. Gen- 
eral Ward, of Massachusetts, by 
common consent, commanded the 
whole ; and the celebrated Dr. 
Warren was made a major-general. 
Not long after this period, the 
British commander-in-chief found 
the means to convey a proj)osal, 
privately, to General Putnam, that 
if he would relinquish the rebel 
party, he might rely upon being 
made a mapr-gcneral on the 
British establishment, and receiving 
a great pecuniary compensation for 
his services. General Putnam 



GENEHAL PUTNAM. 141 

spurned at the offer ; which, how- 
ever, he thought prudent at that 
tuTie to conceal from pubHc notice. 

Thou oh the commandinoj officers 
from the four colonies of New-Eng- 
land were in a manner independent, 
they acted harmoniously in concert. 
The first attention had been pru- 
dently directed towards forming 
some little i*edoubts and intrench- 
ments ; for it was well known that 
lines, however slight or untenable, 
were calculated to inspire raw 
soldiers with a confidence in them- 
selves. The next care was to bring 
the live stock from the islands in 
Boston bay, in order to prevent 
the enemy (already surrounded by 
land) from making use of them 
for fresh provisions. 

In the latter end of IMay, be- 



142 LIFE OF 



twccn two and three hundred men 
were sent to drive off the stock from 
IJog and Noddle islands, which are 
situated on the north-east side of 
Boston harbour. Advantage liaving 
been taken of the ebb-tide, when 
the water is fordable between the 
main and Hog island, as it is be- 
tween that and Noddle island, the 
design was effected. But a skirmish 
ensued, in which some of the ma- 
rines, who had been stationed to 
guard them, were killed : and as 
the firing continued between the 
British water-craft and our party, 
a reinforcement of three hundred 
men, with two pieces of artillery, 
was ordered to join the latter. 
General Putnam took the command, 
and having himself gone down on 
the beach, within conversing dis- 



j GENERAL PUTNAM. 143 

j tance, and ineffectually ordered the 
I people on board an armed schooner 
I to strike, he plied her with shot so 
j furiously that the crew made their 
escape, and the vessel was burnt. 
An armed sloop was likewise so 
much disabled as to be towed ofF 
by the boats of the fleet. Thus 
ended this affair, in which several 
hundred sheep, and some cattle 
were removed from under the 
muzzles of the enemy's cannon, 
and our men accustomed to stand 
fire, by being for many hours ex- 
posed to it without meeting with 
any loss. 

BATTLE OP BUNKER HILL. 

The Provincial generals having 
received advice that the British 
commander-in-chief designed to 



144 LIFE OF 



take possession of tlie heights on 
thft peninsula of Chfirlestown, de- 
tached a thousand men in the night 
of the 16th of June, under the 
orders of General Warren, to in- 
trench themselves upon one of these 
eminences, named Bunker Ilill. 
Though retarded by accidents from 
beginning the work until nearly 
midnight, yet, by dawn of day, 
they had constructed a redoubt 
about eight rods square, and com- 
menced a breast- work from the lell 
to the low grounds ; which an in- 
suficrablo fire from the shipping, 
floating batteries, and cannon on 
Copp's Hill, in Boston, prevented 
them from completing. 

At mid-day four battalions of 
foot, ten companies of grenadiers, 
and ten companies of light-infantry, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 147 

with a proportion of artillery, com- 
manded by Major- General Howe, 
landed under a heavy cannonade 
from the ships, and advanced in 
three lines to the attack. The 
light-infantry being formed on the 
right, was directed to turn the left 
flank of the Americans; and the 
grenadiers, supported by two bat- 
talions, to storm the redoubt in 
front. Meanwhile, on application, 
these troops were augmented by 
the 47th regiment, the first batta- 
lion of marines, together with some 
companies of light-infantry and 
grenadiers, which formed an ag- 
gregate force of between two and 
three thousand men. But so dif- 
ficult was it to reinforce the Ameri- 
cans, by sending detachments 
across the Neck, which was raked 



148 LIFE OF 



by the cannon of the shipping, 
that not more than fifteen hundred 
men were brought into action. 

Few instances can be produced 
in the annals of mankind, where 
soldiers, who never had before 
faced an enemy, or heard the 
whistling of a ball, behaved with 
such deliberate and persevering 
valour. It was not until after the 
grenadiers had been twice repulsed 
to their boats. General Warren 
slain, his troops exhausted of their 
ammunition, their lines in a man- 
ner enfilftded by artillery, and the 
redoubt half filled with British 
regulars, that the word was given 
to retire. In that forlorn condition, 
the spectacle was astonishing as 
new, to behold these undisciplined 
men, most of them without bayo- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 149 

nets, disputing with the but-end of 
their muskets against the British 
bayonet, and receding in sullen 
despair. Still the light-infantry on 
their left would certainly have 
gained their rear, and exterminated 
this gallant corps, had not a body 
of four hundred Connecticut men, 
with Captains Knowlton and Ches- 
ter, after forming a temporary 
breast-work, by pulling up one 
post-and-rail fence and putting it 
upon another, performed prodigies 
of bravery. They held the enemy 
at bay until the main body had re- 
linquished the heights, and then 
retreated across the Neck with 
more regularity, and less loss, than 
could have been expected. The 
British, who effected nothing but 
the destruction of Charlestown by 



150 LIFE or 



a wanton conflagration, had more 
than one-half of their whole num- 
ber killed and wounded : the Ameri- 
cans only three hundred and firty- 
five killed, wounded, and missing. 
In this battle, the presence and ex- 
ample of General Putnam, who 
arrived with the reinforcement, 
were not less conspicuous than 
useful. He did everything that 
an intrepid and experienced ofRcer 
could accomplish. 

SIEGE OF BOSTON. 

After this action, the British 
strongly fortified themselves on 
the peninsulas of Boston and 
Charlestown ; while the Provin- 
cials remained posted in the cir- 
cumjacent country in such a man- 
ner as to form a blockade. In the 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 151 



beginning of July, General Wash- 
ington, who had been constituted 
by Congress commander-in-chief 
of the American forces, arrived at 
Cambridge, to take the command. 
Having formed the army into three 
grand divisions, consisting of about 
twelve regiments each, he appoint- 
ed Major- General Ward" to com- 
mand the right wing, Major-Gene- 
ral Lee the left wing, and Major- 
General Putnam the reserve. 
General Putnam's alertness in ac- 
celeratmg the construction of the 
necessary defences was particularly 
noticed and highly approved by 
the commander-in-chief. 

About the 20th of July, the de- 
claration of Congress, setting forth 
the reasons of their taking up arms, ' 
was proclaimed at the head of the 



152 LIFE OF 

several divisions. As soon as this 
memorable paper was read to Gene- 
ral Puntam's division, which he had 
ordered to be paraded on Prospect- 
Hill, they shouted in three huzzas 
aloud. Amen ! whereat (a cannon 
from the fort being fired as a sig- 
nal) the new standard lately sent 
from Connecticut, was suddenly 
seen to rise and unroll itself to the 
wind. On one side was inscribed, 
m large letters of gold, "Ax ap- 
peal TO HEAVEX," and on the 
other were delineated the armorial 
bearings of Connecticut, which, 
without supporters or crest, consist, 
unostentatiously, of three Vines; 
with this motto, " Qui transtulit^ 
sustinct;^^ alluding to the pious con- 
fidence our forefathers placed in 
the protection of Heaven, on those 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 153 

three allegorical scions — know- 
ledge LIBERTY RELIGION 

I which they had been instrumental 
I in transplanting to America. 
' The strength of position on the 
, enemy's part, and want of ammu- 
i nition on ours, prevented operations 
of magnitude from being attempted. 
Such diligence was used in forti- 
I fying our camps, and such precau- 
tion adopted to prevent surprise, as 
to ensure tranquillity to the troops 
during the winter. In the spring, 
a position was taken so menacing 
to the enemy, as to cause them, on 
the 17th of March, 1776, to aban- 
don Boston, not without considerable 
precipitation and dereliction of royal 
stores. 



154 



PUTNAM IN COMMAND AT NEW 
YORK. 

As a part of the hostile fleet 
lingered for some time in Nantas- 
ket-Road, about nine miles below 
Boston, General Washington con- 
tinued himself in Boston, not only 
to see the coast entirely clear, but 
also to make many indispensable 
arrangements. His Excellency, 
proposing to leave Major-General 
Ward, with a few regiments, to 
finish the fortifications intended as 
a security against an attack by 
water, in the mean time despatched 
the greater part of the army to 
New York, where it was most 
probable the enemy would make a 
descent. Upon the sailing of a 
fleet with troops in the month of 



GENEnAL PUTNAM. 155 



January, Major- General Lee had 
been sent to the defence of that 
city ; who, after having caused 
some works to be laid out, proceed- 
ed to follow that fleet to South- 
Carolina. The commander-in- 
chief was now exceedingly solici- 
tous that these works should be 
completed as soon as possible, and 
accordingly gave orders to General 
Putnam to proceed to New York 
and resume the command. 

Invested with these commands, 
General Putnam travelled by long 
and expeditious stages to New York. 
His first precaution, upon his arri- 
val, was to prevent disturbance, or 
surprise in the night season. With 
these objects in view, after posting 
the necessary guards, he issued 
his orders. He instituted, likewise. 



156 LIFE OF 

other whulosome regulations to nie- 
lioratp tho police of the troops, and 
to preserve the good agreement that 
subsisted between tliem and the 
citizens. 

Notwithstanding the war had 
now raged, in other parts, with un- 
accustomed severity for nearly a 
year, yet the British ships at New 
York, one of which had once fired 
upon the town to intimidate the 
inhabitants, found the means of 
being supplied with fresh water and 
provisions. General Putnam re- 
solved to adopt eflectual measures 
for putting a period to this inter- 
course, and accordingly expressed 
his prohibition in the most pointed 
terms. 

Nearly at the same moment, a 
detachment of a thousawd Conti- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 157 

nentals was sent to occupy Gover- 
nor's Island, a regiment to fortify 
Red Hook, and some companies of 
riflemen to the Jersey shore. Of 
two boats, belonging to two armed 
vessels, which attempted to take on 
board fresh water from the watering 
place on Staten-Island, one v.as 
driven off by the riflemen, with 
two or three seamen killed in it, 
and the other captured with thirteen. 
A few days afterwards, Captain 
Vandeput, of the Asia man of war, 
the senior officer of the ships on 
this station, finding the intercourse 
with the shore interdicted, their 
limits contracted, and that no good 
purposes could be answered by re- 
maining there, sailed, with all the 
armed vessels, out of the harbour. 
These arrangements and transac- 



158 LIFE OF 



tion.s, joined to an unremitting at- 
tention to the completion of the 
delences, gave full scope to the 
activity of General Putnam, until 
the arrival of General Washington, 
which happened about the middle 
of April. 

The commander-in-chief, in his 
first j)ublic orders, " complimented 
the oj/iccrs ivho had successfiilhj 
commanded at New York^ and 
returned his thanks to them as well 
as to the officers and soldiers under 
their command, for the many works 
of defence which had been so ex- 
peditiously erected : at the same 
time he expressed an expectation 
that the same spirit of zeal for the 
service would continue to animate 
their future conduct." Putnam, 
who was then the only major- | 
1 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



159 



general with the main army, had 
still a chief agency in forwarding 
the fortifications, and, with the 
assistance of Brigadiers Spencer 
and Lord Stirling, in assigning to 
the different corps their alarm posts. 
Congress having intimated a de- 
sire of consulting with the com- 
mander-in-chief, on the critical 
posture of affairs, his Excellency 
repaired to Philadelphia according- 
ly, and was absent from the twenty- 
first of May until the sixth of June. 
General Putnam, who commanded 
in that interval, had it in charge to 
open all letters directed to General 
Washington, on public service, and 
if important, after regulating his 
conduct by their contents, to for- 
ward them by express ; to expedite 
the works then erecting ; to begin 



160 



LIFE OF 



Others which were specified ; to 
establish signals for communicating 
an alarm ; to guard against the 
possibility of surprise ; to secure 
well the powder magazine ; to aug- 
ment, by every means in his power, 
the quantity of cartridges ; and to 
send Brigadier-General Lord Stir- 
ling to put the posts in the High- 
lands into a proper condition of 
defence. He had also a private 
and confidential instruction, to 
afibrd whatever aid might be re- 
quired by the Provincial Congress 
of New York, for apprehending 
certain of their disaffected citizens : 
and as it would be most convenient 
to take the detachment for this 
service from the troops on Long- 
Island, under the command of Bri- 
gadier-General Greene, it was re- 



OENEHAL PUTNAM. 161 

commended that this officer should 
be advised of the plan, and that the 
execution should be conducted with 
secrecy and celerity, as well as 
with decency and good order. In 
the records of the army are pre- 
served the daily orders which were 
issued in the absence of the com- 
mander-in-chief, who, on his re- 
turn, was not only satisfied that the 
works had been prosecuted with all 
possible despatch, but also that the 
other duties had been properly dis- 
charged. 

THE TORPEDO. 

It was the latter end of June, 
when the British fleet, which had 
been at Halifax waiting for rein- 
forcements from Europe, began to 
arrive at New York. To obstruct 



11 



162 



Life of 



its passage, some marine prepara- 
tions had been made. General 
Putnam, to whom the direction of 
the whalo-boats, fire-rafts, flat-bot- 
tomed boats, and armed vessels, 
was committed, afforded his pa- 
tronage to a project for destroying 
the enemy's shipping by explosion. 
A machine, altogether different from 
any thing hitherto devised by the 
art of man, had been invented by 
Mr. David Bushnell, for submarine 
navigation wiiich was found to 
answer the purpose perfectly, of 
rowing horizontally at any given 
depth under water, and of rising 
or sinking at pleasure. To this 
machine, called the American Tur- 
tle, was attached a magazine of 
powder which was intended to 
be fastened under the bottom of 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



163 



a ship, with a driving screw, in 
such sort, that the same stroke 
which disengaged it from the ma- 
chine, should put the internal clock- 
work in motion. This being done, 
the ordinary operation of a gun- 
lock at the distance of half an hour, 
an hour, or any determinate time, 
would cause the powder to explode, 
and leave the effects to the common 
laws of nature. The simplicity, 
yet combination discovered in the 
mechanism of this wonderful ma- 
chine, were acknowledged by those 
skilled in physics, and particularly 
hydraulics, to be not less ingenious 
than novel. The inventor, whose 
constitution was too feeble to per- 
mit him to perform the labour ot 
rowing the Turtle, had taught his 
brother to manage it with perfect 



164 Liri: ov 

dexterity; but, unfortunately his 
brother fell sick of a fever just 
before the arrival of the fleet. 
Itecourse was therefore had to a 
sergeant in the Connecticut troops ; 
who, having received whatever in- 
structions could be communicated 
to him in a short time, went, too 
late in the night, with all the 
apparatus, under the bottom of the 
Eagle, a sixty-four gun ship, on 
board of which the Britisli admi- 
ral. Lord Howe, commanded. In 
coming up, the screw that had been 
calculated to perforate the copper 
sheathing, unluckily struck against 
some iron plates wliere the rudder 
is connected with the stern. 

This accidi^nt, added to the 
strength of the tid(? which prevailed, 
and the want of adequate skill in the 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



165 



sergeant, occasioned such delay, 
that the dawn began to appear, 
whereupon he abandoned the ma- 
gazine to chance, and after gaining 
a proper distance, for the sake of 
expedition, rowed on the surface 
towards the town. General Put- 
nam, who had been on the wharf 
anxiously expecting the result, from 
the first glimmering of light be- 
held the machine near Governor's 
Island, and sent a whale-boat to 
bring it on shore. In about twenty 
minutes afterwards the magazine 
exploded, and blew a vast column 
of water to an amazing height in 
the air. As the whole business 
had been kept an inviolable secret, 
he was not a little diverted with 
the various conjectures, whether 
this stupendous noise was produced 



166 



LIFE OF 



by a bomb, a meteor, a watcr-spout, 
or an earthquake. Other opera- 
tions of a most serious nature 
rapidly succeeded, and prevented a 
repetition of the experiment. 

BATTLE OF LO>'G ISLAND. 

On the 22d day of August 
1776, the van of the British 
landed on Long Island, and was 
soon followed by the whole army, 
except one brigade of Hessians, a 
small body of British, and some 
convalescents, left on Staten Island. 
Our troops on Long Island had 
been commanded during the sum- 
mer by General Greene, who #as 
now sick ; and General PujBam 
took the command but two *ays 
before the battle of Flatbush. The 
instructions to him, pointing in the 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



167 



first place to decisive expedients for 
suppressing the scattering, unmean- 
ing, and wasteful fire of our men, 
contained regulations for the service 
of the guards, the brigadiers and 
the field-officers of the day ; for 
the appointment and encouragement 
of proper scouts, as well as for 
keeping the men constantly at their 
posts; for. preventing the burning 
of buildings, except it should be 
necessary for military purposes, 
and for preserving private property 
from pillage and destruction. To 
these regulations were added, ia a 
more diffuse, though not less spirit- 
ed and professional style, reflec- 
tions on the distinction of an army 
from a mob ; with exhortatipns for 
the soldiers to conduct themselves 
manfully in such a cause, and for 



168 LIFE OF 

their commander to oppose the 
enemy's approach with detach- 
ments of his best troops ; while he 
should endeavour to render tlieir 
advance more difficult by construct- 
ing abbatis, and to entrap their 
parties by forming ambuscades. 
General Putnam was within the 
lines, when an engagement took 
place on the 27th, between the 
British army and our advanced 
corps, in which we lost about a ! 
thousand men in killed and missing, 
with the Generals Sullivan and 
Lord Stirling made prisoners. But 
our men, though attacked on all 
sides, fought with great bravery; 
and the enemy's loss was not 
light. , 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



169 



EVACUATION OF NEW YORK. 

The unfortunate battle of Long 
Island, the masterly retreat from 
thence, and the actual passage -of 
part of the hostile fleet in the East 
River, above the town, preceded 
the evacuation of New York. A 
promotion of four major-generals 
and six brigadiers, had previously 
been made by Congress. After the 
retreat from Long Island, the main 
army, consisting for the moment 
of sixty battalions, of which twenty 
were Continental, the residue levies 
and militia, was, conformably to the 
exigencies of the service rather 
than to the rules of war, formed 
into fourteen brigades. Major-Gen- 
eral Putnam commanded the right 
grand division of five brigades, Ma- 



170 LIFE OF 



jor-Gc'iicrals Spencer and Greene 
the centre of six brigades, and 
Major-General Heaththo left, which 
was posted near King's-Bridge, and 
composed of two brigades. The 
whole never amounted to twenty 
thousand effective men : while the 
British and German forces, under 
Sir William Howe, exceeded twenty 
two thousand : indeed, the minister 
had asserted in parliament that 
they would consist of more than 
thirty thousand. Our two centre 
divisions, both commanded by 
General Spencer, in the sickness 
of General Greene, moved to- 
wards Mount Washington, Ilarlaem 
Heights, and Horn's Hook, as soon 
as the final resolution was taken in 
a council of war, on the r-2th of 
September, to abandon the city. 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 171 

That event, thus circumstanced, 
took effect a few days after. 

BATTLE AND RETREAT. 

On Sunday, the 15th, the British, 
after sending three ships of war 
up the North River to Bloom^ 
ingdale, and keeping up, for some 
hours a severe cannonade on our 
lines, from those already in the 
East River, landed in force at Tur- 
tle Bay. Our new levies, com- 
manded by a state brigadier-gen- 
eral, fled without making resistance. 
Two brigades of General Putnam's 
division, ordered to their support, 
notwithstanding the exertion of their 
brigadiers, and of the commander- 
in-chief himself, who came up at 
the instant, conducted themselves 
in the same shameful manner, 



172 UFE OF 



His Excellency then ordered the 
Heights of Harlacm, a strong posi- 
tion, to be occupied. Thither the 
forces in the vicinity, as well as 
the fugitives, repaired. In the 
meantime General Putnam, with 
the remainder of his command, 
and the ordinary out-posts, was in 
the city. After having caused the 
brigades to begin their retreat by 
the route of Bloomingdale, in order 
to avoid the enemy, who were then 
in the possession of the main road 
leading to King's-Bridgc, he galloped 
to call off the pickets and guards. 
Colonel Humphreys, who was a 
volunteer in Putnam's division, 
and acting adjutant to the last 
regiment that left the city, says he 
had frequent opportunities, that 
day, of beholding him, for the 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 173 

purpose of issuing orders, and en- 
couraging the troops, flying, on his 
horse covered with foam, wherever 
his presence was most necessary. 
Without his extraordinary exertions, 
the guards must have been inevit- 
ably lost, and it is probable the 
entire corps would have been cut 
in pieces. When we were not far 
from Bloomingdale, an aid-de- 
camp came from him at full speed, 
to inform that a column of British 
infantry was descending upon our 
right. Our rear was soon fired 
upon, and the colonel of our re- 
giment, whose order was just com- 
municated for the front to file off 
to the left, was killed on the spot. 
With no other loss we joined the 
army, after dark, on the Heights of 
Harlaem. 



174 



LIFE OV 



Before our brigades came in, we 
were given up (or lost by all our 
Iriends. So critical indeed was our 
situation, and so narrow the gap by 
which we escaped, that the instant 
we had i)assed, the enemy closed it 
by extending their line from river 
to river. Our men, who had been 
fifteen hours under arms, harassed 
by marching and countermarching, 
rn consequence of incessant alarms, 
exhausted as they were by heat 
and thirst, (for the day proved in- 
supportably hot, and few or none 
had canteens, insomuch, that some 
died at the brooks where they 
drank) if attacked, could have 
made but feeble resistance. 

That night our soldiers, exces- 
sively fatigued by the sultry march 
of the day, their clothes wet by a 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 175 

severe shower of rain that suc- 
ceeded towards the evening, their 
blood chilled by the cold wind that 
produced a sudden change in the 
temperature of the air, and their 
hearts sunk within them by the 
loss of baggage, artillery, and 
works in which they had been 
taught to put great confidence, lay 
upon their arms, covered only by 
the clouds of an uncomfortable 
sky. To retrieve our disordered 
affairs, and prevent the enemy 
from profiting by them, no exertion 
was relaxed, no vigilance remitted 
on the part of our higher officers. 
The regiments which had been 
least exposed to fatigue that day, 
furnished the necessary pickets to 
secure the army from surprise. 
Those whose military lives had 



176 LIFE OF 

been short and unpractised, felt 
enough besides lassitude of body 
to disquiet the tranquillity of their 
repose. Nor Jiad those who were 
older in service, and of more ex- 
perience, any subject for consola- 
tion. The warmth of enthusiasm 
seemed to be extinguished. The 
force of disciplme had not suffi- 
ciently occupied its place to give 
men a dependence upon each other. 
Wc were apparently about to reap 
the bitter fruits of that jealous 
policy, which some leading men, 
with the best motives, had sown in 
our federal councils, when they 
caused the mode to be adopted, for 
carrying on the war by detach- 
ments of militia, from apprehen- 
sion that an established continental 
army, al\er defending the country 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 177 



against foreign invasion, might 
subvert its liberties themselves. 
Paradoxical as it will appear, it 
may be profitable to be known to 
posterity, that while our very ex- 
istence as an independent people 
was in question, the patriotic jeal- 
ousy for the safety of our future 
freedom had been carried to such 
a virtuous but dangerous excess as 
well nigh to preclude the attain- 
ment of our independence. Hap- 
pily, that limited and hazardous 
system soon gave room to one more 
enlightened and salutary. This 
may be attributed to the reiterated 
arguments, the open remonstrances, 
and the confidential communi- 
cations of the commander-in-chief; 
who, though not apt to despair of 
the republic, on this occasion ex- 



12 



178 LIFE OF 

pressed himself in terms of un- 
usual despondency. He declared, 
in his letters, that he found, to his 
utter astonishment and mortifica- 
tion, that no reliance could be 
placed on a great proportion of his 
present troops, and that, unless 
efficient measures for establishing 
a permanent force should be spwd- 
ily pursued, we had every reason 
to fear the final ruin of our cause. 

ANOTHER BATTLE. 

Next morning several parties of 
the enemy appeared upon the 
plains in our front. On receiving 
this intelligence, General Wash- 
ington rode quickly to the out-posts, 
for the purpose of preparing against 
an attack, if the enemy should ad- 
vance with that desii:n. Lieutcn- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 179 

ant-Colonel Knowlton's rangers, a 
fine selection from the eastern regi- 
ments, who had been skirmishing 
with an advanced party, came in, 
and informed the general that a 
body of British were under cover 
of a small eminence at no consid- 
erable distance. His Excellency, 
willing to raise our men from their 
dejection b}?- the splendour of some 
little success, ordered Lieutenant- 
Colonel Knowlton, with his rangers, 
and Major Leitch, with three com- 
panies of Weedon's regiment of 
Virginians, to gain their rear; 
while appearances should be made 
of an attack in front. As soon 
as the enemy saw the party sent 
to decoy them, they ran precipi- 
tately down the hill, took posses- 
sion of some fences and bushes, 



180 



LIFE OF 



and commenced a brisk firing at 
long shot. Unfortunately Knowl- 
ton and Leitch made their onset 
rather in flank than in rear. The 
enemy changed their front, and 
the skirmisli at once became close 
and warm. 

Major Leitch having received 
three balls through his side, was 
soon borne from the field ; and 
Colonel Knowlton, wlio had dis- 
tinguished himself so gallantly at 
the battle of Bunker Hill, was mor- 
tally wounded immediately after. 
Their men, liowcver, undaunted 
by these disasters, stimulated with 
the thirst of revenge for the loss of 
their leaders, and, conscious of 
acting under the eye of the com- 
mander-in-chief, maintained the 
conflict with uncommon spirit and 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 181 I 



perseverance. But the general, 
seeing them in need of support, 
advanced part of the Maryland re- 
giments of Griffith and Richardson, 
together with some detachments 
from such eastern corps as chanced 
to be most contiguous to the place 
of action. 

Our troops this day, without ex- 
ception, behaved with the greatest 
intrepidity. So bravely did they 
repulse the British, that Sir William 
Howe moved his reserve, with two 
field pieces, a battalion of Hessian 
grenadiers, and a company of chas- 
seurs, to succour his retreating 
troops. General Washington, not 
willing to draw on a general action, 
declined pressing the pursuit. In 
this engagement were the second 
and third battalions of light infantry. 



182 LIFE OF 



the forty-second British regiment, 
.ind the German chasseurs, of 
whom eight officers, and upwards 
of seventy privates were wounded, 
and our people buried nearly twenty, 
who were left dead on the field. 
We had about forty wounded : our 
loss in killed, except of two valu- 
able officers, was very inconsider- 
able. 

An advantage, so trivial in itself, 
produced, in event, a surprising and 
almost incredible effect upon the 
whole army. Amongst the troops 
not engaged, w ho, during the action, 
were throwing earth from the new 
trenches, with an alacrity that in- 
dicated a determination to defend 
them, every visage was seen to 
brighten, and to assume, instead of 
the gloom of despair, the glow of 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 183 

animation. This change, no less 
sudden than happy, left little room 
to doubt that the men, who ran the 
day before at the sight of an enemy, 
would now to wipe away the stain 
of that disgrace, and to recover the 
confidence of their general, have 
conducted themselves in a very 
different manner. Some alteration 
was made in the distribution of 
corps, to prevent the British from 
gaining either flank in the succeed- 
ing night. General Putnam, who 
commanded on the right, was di- 
rected in orders, in case the enemy 
should attempt to force the pass, to 
apply for a reinforcement to Gen- 
eral Spencer, who commanded on 
the left. 

General Putnam, who was too 
good an husbandman himself not 



184 



LIFE OF 



to hfivc a respect for the labours 
and improvements of other?, stren- 
uously seconded the views of the 
commander-in-chief in preventing 
the devastation of farms, and the 
violation of private property. For, 
under pretext that the property in 
this quarter belonged to friends to 
the British government, as indeed 
it mostly did, a spirit of rapine and 
licentiousness began to prevail, 
which, unlcs's repressed in the be- 
ginning, foreboded, besides the sub- 
version of discipline, the disgrace 
and defeat of our arms. 

Our new defences now becoming 
so strong as not to admit insult 
with impunity, and Sir William 
Howe, not choosing to place too 
much at risk in attacking us in 
front, on the 12th dny of October, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 185 



leaving Lord Percy with one Hes- 
sian and two British brigades, in 
his Hnes at Harlaem, to cover New 
York, embarked with the main body 
of his army, with an intention of 
landing at Frog's Neck, situated 
near the town of West Chester, and 
little more than a league above 
the communication called King's- 
Bridge, which connects New York 
Island with the main. There was 
nothing to oppose him; and he 
effected his debarkation by nine 
o'clock in the morning. The same 
policy of keeping our army as 
compact as possible; the same 
system of avoiding being forced to 
action ; and the same precaution 
to prevent the interruption of sup- 
plies, reinforcements, or retreat, 
that lately dictated the evacuation 



186 LIFE OF 

of New York, now induced General 
Washington to move towards the 
strong grounds in the upper part 
of West Chester county. 

RETREAT TO JERSEY. 

About the same time General 
Putnam was sent to the western 
side of the Hudson, to provide 
against an irruption into the Jerseys, 
and soon after to Philadelphia, to 
put that city into a posture of de- 
fence. Thither we will now fol- 
low him, without attempting togivein 
detail the skilful retrograde move- 
ments of our commander-in-chief, 
who, after detaching a irarrison for 
Fort Washington, by pre-occupying 
with extemporaneous redoubts and 
cntrenclimcnts, the ridges fi-om 
Mile-Square to White Plains, and by 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 187 



folding one brigade behind another 
in rear of those ridges that run par- 
allel with the sound, brought off alU 
his artillery, stores, and sick, in the 
face of a superior foe; without 
commenting on the partial and 
equivocal battle fought near the last 
mentioned village, or the cause why 
the British, then in full force, (for 
the last of the Hessian infantry and 
British light-horse had just arrived) 
did not more seriously endeavour 
to induce a general engagement; 
without journalizing their military 
manoeuvres in falling back to King's- 
Bridge, capturing Fort Washington, 
Fort Lee, and marching through 
the Jerseys; without enumerating 
the instances of rapine, murder, 
lust, and devastation, that marked 
their progress, and filled our bosoms 



188 LIFE OF 



with horror and indignation ; with- 
out describing 'how a division of 
%ir dissolving army, with (rfmeral 
Washington, was driven Ix'fore 
them beyond the Delav/are ; with- 
out painting the naked and forlorn 
condition of these much injured 
men, amidst the rigours of an in- 
clement season ; and without even 
sketching the constcrnUtion that 
seized the states at this perilous 
period, when General Lee, in lead- 
ing from the north a small rein- 
forcement to our troops, was him- 
self taken prisoner by surprise ; 
when every thing seemed decidedly 
declining to the last extremity, and 
when every prospect but served to 
augment the depression of despair 
— until the genius of one man, in 
one day, at a single stroke, wrested 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 189 



from the vetei'an battalions of Bri- 
tain and Germany the fruits ac- 
quired by the total operations of a 
successful campaign, and re-ani- 
mated the expiring hope of a whole 
nation, by the glorious enterprise 
at Trenton. 

While the hostile forces, rashly 
inflated with pride by a series of 
uninterrupted successes, and fondly 
dreaniing that a period would soon 
be put to their labours, by the com- 
pletion of their conquests, had been 
pursuing the wretched remnants of 
a disbanded army to the banks of 
the Delaware, General Putnam was 
diligently employed in fortifying 
Philadelphia, the capture of which 
appearjed indubitably to be their 
principal object. Here, by authority 
and example, he strove to conciliate 



190 LIFE OF 



contending factions, and to excite 
the citizens to uncommon efTorts in 
defence of every thing interesting 
to freemen. His personal industry- 
was unparalleled. His orders, with 
respect to extinguishing accidental 
fires, advancing the public works, 
as well as in regard to other im- 
portant objects, were perfectly 
military and proper. But his 
liealth was, for a while, impaired 
by his unrelaxed exertions. 

PUTNAM IN PHILADELPHIA. 

The commander-in-chief having, 
in spite of all obstacles, made good 
his retreat over the Delaware, 
wrote to General Putnam from his 
camp above the Falls of Tronton, 
on the very day he recrossed the 
river to surprise the Hessians, ex- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



191 



pressing his satisfaction at the re- 
establishment of that general's 
health, and informing, that if he 
had not himself been well con- 
vinced before of the enemy's in- 
tention to possess themselves of 
Philadelphia, as soon as the frost 
should form ice strong enough to 
transport them and their artillery 
across the Delaware, he had now 
obtained an intercepted letter, which 
placed the matter beyond a doubt. 
He added, that if the citizens of 
Philadelphia had any regard for 
the town, not a moment's time was 
to be lost until it should be put in 
the best possible posture of de- 
fence ; but least that should not be 
done, he directed the removal of 
all public stores, except provisions 
necessary for immediate use, to 



192 



LIFE OF 



places of greater security. He 
queried whether, if a party of 
mihtia could be sent from Philadel- 
phia to support those in the Jerseys, 
about Mount-Holly, it would not 
serve to save them from submis- 
sion? At the same time he signi- 
fied, as his opinion, the expediency 
of sending an active and influential 
officer to inspirit the people, to en- 
courage them to assemble in arms, 
as well as to keep those already 
in arms from disbanding ; and con- 
cluded by manifesting a wish that 
Colonel Forman, whom he desired 
to see for this purpose, might be 
employed on the service. 

BATTLES OF TRENTON AND PRINCE- 
TON. 

The enemy had vainly, as m- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



195 



cautiously, imagined that to over- 
Yun was to conquer. They had 
even carried their presumption on 
our extreme weakness and ex- 
pected submission so far as to 
attempt covering the country 
through v/hich they had marched 
with an extensive chain of can- 
tonments. That link, which the 
post at Trenton suppUed, consisted 
of a Hessian brigade of infantry, 
a company of chasseurs, a squad- 
ron of light dragoons, and six field 
pieces. 

At eight o' clock in the morning 
of the 26th of December, General 
Washington, with twenty-four hun- 
dred men, came upon them, after 
they had paraded, took one thou- 
sand prisoners, and repassed the 
same day, without loss, to his en- 



196 LIFE OF 



campment. As soon as the 
troops were recovered from their 
excessive fatigue, General Wash- 
ington recrossed a second time to 
Trenton. On the 2d of January, 
Lord Cornwallis, with the bulk of 
the British army, advanced upon 
him, cannonaded his post, and offer- 
ed him battle : but the two armies 
being separated by the interposi- 
tion of Trenton Creek, General 
Washington had it in his option to 
decline an engagement, which he 
did for the sake of striking the 
masterly stroke that he tlien medi- 
tated. Having kindled frequent 
fires around his camp, posted faith- 
ful men to keep them burning, and 
advanced sentinels, whoso fidelity 
might be relied upon, he decamped 
silently after dark, and by a circuit- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



197 



ous route, reached Princeton at 
nine o'clock the next morning. 
The noise of the firing, by which 
he killed and captured between five 
and six hundred of the British bri-» 
gade in that town, was the first no- 
tice Lord Cornwallis had of this 
stolen march. General Washing- 
ton, the project successfully accom- 
plished, instantly filed off for the 
mountainous grounds of Morris- 
town. Meanwhile his lordship, 
who arrived by a forced march, 
at Princeton, just as he had left it, 
finding the Americans could not be 
overtaken, proceeded without halt- 
ing to Brunswick. 

PUTNAM AT PRINCETON. 

On the 5th of .January, 1777, 
from Pluckemin, General Wash- 



198 



LIFE OF 



ington despatched an account of 
this second success to General Put- 
nam, and ordered him to move im- 
mediately, with all his troops, to 
Croswick's, for the purpose of co- 
operating in recovering the Jerseys; 
an event which the present fortu- 
nate juncture, while the enemy 
were yet panic-struck, appeared to 
promise. The general cautioned 
him, however, if the enemy should 
still continue at Brunswick, *to 
guard with great circumspection a- 
against a surprise ; especially as 
they, having recently suficred by 
two attacks, could scarcely avoid 
being edged with resentment to at- 
tempt retaliation. His Excellency 
farther advised him to give out his 
strength to be twice as great as it 
was J to forward on all the bag- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



199 



gage and scattering men belonging 
to the divison destined for Morris- 
town ; to employ as many spies as 
he should think proper ; to keep a 
number of horsemen, in the dress 
of the country, going constantly 
backward and forward on the same 
secret service ; and, lastly, if he 
should discover any intention or 
motion of the enemy that could be 
depended upon, and might be ^'f 
consequence, not to fail in convey- 
ing the intelligence, as rapidly as 
possible, by express, to head-quar- 
ters. 

Major-General Putnam was di- 
rected soon after to take post at 
Princeton, where he continued un- 
til the spring. He had never with 
him more than a few hundred 
troops, though he was only at fifteen 



i^OO 



LIFE Of 



miles distant from the enemy's 
strong garrison ol Brunswick, At 
one period, iVom a sudden diminu- 
tion, occasioned by the tardiness of 
the militia turning out to replace 
those whose time of service was ex- 
pired, he had fewer men for duty 
than he had miles of frontier to 
guard. Nor was the commander- 
in-chief in a more eligible situation. 
It is true, that while he had scarce- 
ly the semblance of an army, un- 
der the specious parade of a park of 
artillery, and the imposing appear* 
ance of his head-quarters, estab. 
lished at Morristown, he kept up, in 
the eyes of his countrymen, as well 
as in the opinion of his enemy, the 
appearance of no contemptible force. 
Future generations will find diffi. 
culty in conceiving how a handful 



J 



GENBRAI/ PUTNAM. 201 



of now-levied men and niilitia, who 
were necessitated to be inoculated for 
the small-pox in the course of the 
winter, could be subdivided and 
posted so advantageously, as effec- 
tually to protect the inhabitants, 
confine the enemy, curtail their 
forage, and beat up their quarters, 
without sustaining a single disaster. 

CAPTAIN Jl'pHEBSOX. 

In the battle of Princeton, Cap- 
tain M'Pherson, of the 17th British 
regiment, a very worthy Scotch- 
man, was desperately wounded in 
the lungs, and left with the dead, I 
Upon General Putnam's arrival 
there, he found him languishing in 
extreme distress, without a surgeon, 
without a single accommodation, 
and without a friend to solace the 



202 



I,1FE OF 



1 



sinking spirit in the gloc Dy hour 
of death. He visited, nd im- 
mediately caused every possible 
comfort to be administered to him. 
Captain M'Pherson, who, contrary 
to all apj:)earances, recovered, after 
I having demonstrated to General 
Putnam the dignified sense of ob- 
ligations which a generous mind 
wishes not to conceal, one day in 
familiar conversation, demanded, 
*' Pray, sir, what countryman are 
you?"-— " An American," answered 
the latter. — " Not a Yankee ?" 
said the other. — " A full-blooded 
one," replied the general. " I am 
sorry for that," rejoined M'Pher- 
son, <' I did not think there could 
be so much goodness and generosity 
in an American, or, indeed, in any 
body but a Scotchman." 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 



203 



PUTNAM S STRATAGEM. 

While the recovery of Captain 
M'Pherson was doubtful, he desired 
that General Putnam would per- 
mit a friend in the British army at 
Brunsjvick to come and assist him 
in making his will. General 
Putnam, who had then only fifty 
men in his whole command, was 
sadly embarrassed by the propo- 
sition. On the one hand, he was 
not content that a British officer 
should have an opportunity to spy 
out the weakness of his post ; on 
the other, it was scarcely in his 
nature to refuse complying with a 
idctate of humanity. He luckily 
bethought himself of an expedient 
which he hastened to put in prac- 
tice. A flag of truce was despatched 



204 LIFE OP 



with Captain M'Phcrson's request, 
but under an injunction not to re- 
turn with his friend until after dark. 
In the evening lights were placed 
in all the rooms of the College, and 
in every apartment of the vacant 
bouses throughout the town. Du- 
ring the whole night, the fifty men, 
sometimes all together, and some- 
times in small detachments, were 
marched from different quarters by 
the house in which M'Pherson lay. 
Afterwards it was known that the 
oflicer who came on the visit, at 
his return, reported that General 
Putnam's army, upon the most 
moderate calculation, could not 
consist of less than four or five 
thousand men. 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 205 

BRtTTALITY OF THE ENGLISH IN 
NEW JERSEY. 

This winter's campaign, for our 
troops constantly kept the field after 
regaining a footing in the Jerseys, 
has never yet been faithfully and 
feelingly described. The sudden 
restoration of our cause from the 
very verge of ruin was interwoven 
with such a tissue of inscrutable 
causes and extraordinary events, 
that, fearful of doing the subject 
greater injustice, by a passing dis- 
quisition than a proposed silence, I 
leave it to the leisure of abler pens. 

The ill policy of the British 
doubtless contributed to accelerate 
this event. For the manner, im- 
politic as inhuman, in which they 
managed their temporary conquests, 



206 LIFE or 



tended evidently to alienate the 
affections of their adherents, to 
confirm the wavering in an opposite 
interest, to rouse the supine into 
activity, to assemble the dispersed 
to the standard of America, and to 
infuse a spirit of revolt into the 
minds of those men who had, from 
necessity, submitted to their power. 
Their conduct in warring with fire 
and sword against the imbecility of 
youth, and the decrepitude of age ; 
against the arts, the sciences, the 
curious inventions, and the elegant 
improvements in civilized life ; 
against the melancholy widow, the 
miserable orphan, the peaceable 
professor of humane literature, and 
the sacred minister of the gospel, 
seemed to operate as powerfully, as 
if purposely intended to kindle the 



GENERAL tUtNAM. 207 



dormant s^ark of resistance into 
an inextinguishable flame. If we 
add to the black catalogue of provo- 
cations already enumerated, their 
insatiable rapacity in plundering 
friends and foes indiscriminately ; 
their libidinous brutality in viola- 
ting the chastity of the female sex ; 
their more than Gothic rage in 
defacing private writings, public 
records, libraries of learning, dwell- 
ings of individuals, edifices for ed- 
uc'ation, and temples of the Deity ; 
together with their insufferable 
ferocity, unprecedented indeed 
among civilized nations, in mur- 
dering on the field of battle the 
wounded while begging hv mercy, 
in causing their prisoners to famish 
with hunger and cold in prisons 
and prison-ships, and in carrying 



208 LIFE OF 



their malice beyond death itself, by 
denying the decent rites of sepulture 
to the dead ; we shall not be aston- 
ished that the yeomanry in the two 
Jerseys, when the first glimmering 
of hope began to break in upon 
them, rose as one man, with the 
unalterable resolution to perish in 
the generous cause, or expel their 
merciless invaders. 

The principal officers, stationed 
at a variety of well-chosen, and 
at some almost inaccessible po- 
sitions, seemed all to be actuated by 
the same soul, and only to vie with 
each other in giving proofs of vigi- 
lance, enterprise, and valour. From 
what has been said respecting the 
scantiness of our aggregate force, 
it will be concluded, that the num- 
ber of men, under the orders of 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 209 

each, was indeed very small. But 
the uncommon alertness of the 
troops, who were incessantly 
hovering round the enemy in 
scouts, and the constant communi- 
cation they kept between the several 
stations most contiguous to each 
other, agreeably to the instructions 
of the general-in-chief, together wi th 
their readiness in giving, and confi- 
dence of receiving such reciprocal 
aid as the exigencies might require, 
served to supply the defect of force. 

THE FORAGERS DEFEATED. 

This manner of doing duty not 
only put our own posts beyond the 
reach of sudden insult and surprise, 
but so exceedingly harassed and 
intimidated the enemy, that foragers 
were seldom sent out by them, and 



14 



210 LIFE OF 

never except in very large parlies. 
General Dickenson, who command- 
ed on General Putnam's lert, dis- 
covered, about the 20th of January, 
a foraging party, consisting of about 
four hundred men, on the opposite 
side of Millstone, two miles from 
Somerset Court-house. As the 
bridge was possessed and def(Midcd 
by three field-])ieccs, so that it could 
not be passed, General Dickenson, 
at the head of four hundred militia, 
broke the ice, crossed the river 
where the water was about three 
feet deep, resolutely attacked, and 
totally defeated the foragers. Upon 
their abandoning the convoy, a few 
prisoners, forty wagons, and more 
than n hundred draught horses, 
with a considerable booty of cattle 
and sheep, fell into his hands. 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 211 



SKIRMISHES, 

Nor were our operations on 
General Putnam's right flank less 
fortunate. To give countenance to 
the numerous friends of the British 
government in the county of Mon- 
mouth appears to have been a prin- 
cipal motive with Sir William Howe 
for stretching the chain of his can- 
tonments, by his own confession, 
previously to his disaster, rather 
too far. After that chain became 
broken, as I have already related, 
by the blows at Trenton and 
Princeton, he was obliged to collect, 
during the rest of the winter, the 
useless remains in his barracks at 
Brunswick. In the meantime, 
General Putnam was much more 
successful in his attempts to protect 



LIFE OF 



our dispersed and dispirited friends 
in the same district ; who, environed 
on every side by envenomed ad- 
versaries, remained inseparal)ly 
riveted in affection to Amei'ican 
independence. He first detached 
Colonel Gurney, and afterwards 
Major Davis, with sucli parties of 
militia as could be spared, for their 
support. Several skirmishes en- 
sued, in which our people had al- 
ways the advantage. They took 
at different times, many prisoners, 
horses, and wagons from foraging 
parties. In eff'ect, so well did they 
cover the countiy, as to induce 
some of the most respectable in- 
habitants to declare, that the secu- 
rity of the persons, as well as the 
salvation of the property of many 
friends to freedom was owing to the 



GENERAL PUTNAM, 213 

spirited exertions of these two de- 
taciiments ; who, at the same time 
that they rescued the country from 
the tyranny of tories, afforded an 
opportunity for the miUtia to recover 
from their consternation, to embody 
themselves in warlike array, and 
to stand on their defence. 

Duriog this period, General Put- 
nam having received unquestionable 
intelligence that a party of refugees, 
in British pay, had taken post, and 
were erecting a kind of redoubt at 
Lawrence's Neck, sent Colonel 
Nelson, with one hundred and fifty 
militia, to surprise them. That 
officer conducted with so much 
secrecy and decision as to take the 
whole prisoners. These refugees 
were commanded by Major Stock- 
ton, belonging to Skinner's bri- 



214 LIFE OF 

gade, aiid amounted to sixty in 
number. 

A short time after this event, 
Lord Cornwalhs sent out another 
foraging party towards Bound- 
Brook. General Putnam, having 
received notice from his scouts, 
detached Major Smith, with a Ccw 
riflemen, to annoy the party, and 
followed himself witli the rest of 
his force. Before he could come 
up, Major Smith, who liad formed 
an ambush, attacked the enemy, 
killed several horses, took a few 
prisoners, and sixteen haggagc- 
wa^ons, without sustaininir any 
injury. By such operations, our 
hero, in the course of the winter, 
captured nearly a thousand priso- 
ners. 

In the latter part of February, 



GENERAL PUTKA M. 215 

General Washington advised Gene- 
ral Putnam, that, in consequence 
of a large accession of strength 
from Nevv York to the British army 
at Brunswick, it was to be appre- 
hended they would soon make a 
forward movement towards the 
Delaware : ift which case the lat- 
ter was directed to cross the river 
with his actual force, to assume 
the command of the mihtia who 
might assemble to secure the boats 
I on^he west side of the Delaware, 
I and to facilitate the passage of the 
rest of the army. But the enemy 
did not remove from their winter- 
quarters until the season arrived 
when green forage could be sup- 

^ In the intermediate period, the 
correspondence on thepart^ 



216 LIFE OF 

General Putnam with the com- 
mandor-in-cliicf consisted princi- 
pally of reports and inquiries con- 
cerning the treatment ot* some of 
the following descriptions of per- 
sons : either of those who came 
within our lines with flags and 
pretended flags, or who had taken 
protection from the enemy, or who 
had been reputed disaffected to our 
cause, or who were designed tf) be 
comprehended in the American 
proclamation, which required that 
those who had taken protections 
should give them to the nearest 
American oflicer, or go within the 
British lines. The letters of his 
Excellency in return, generally 
advisory, were indicative of con- 
fidence and approbation. 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 217 

PUTNAM OEDERED TO THE HIGH- 
LANDS. 

When the spring had now so 
far advanced that it was obvious 
the enemy would soon take the 
field, the commander-in-chief, after 
desiring General Putnam to give 
the officer who was to relieve him 
at Princeton, all the information 
necessary for the conduct of that 
post, appointed that general to the 
command of a separate army in 
the Highlands of New York. 

It is scarcely decided, from any 
documents yet published, whether 
the preposterous plans prosecuted 
by the British generals in the 
campaign of 1777, were altogether 
the result of their orders from 
home, or whether they partly origi- 



218 LIKK OF 



nated Irom the contingencies of the 
moment. The system which, at 
the time, tended to puzzle all 
human conjecture, when developed, 
served also to contradict all rea- 
sonahlc calculation. Certain it is, 
the American commander-in-chief 
was, for a considerable time, so 
perplexed with contradictory ap- 
pearances, that he knew not how 
to distribute liis troops, with his 
usual discernment, so as to oppose 
the enemy with equal prospect of 
success in dilTerent parts. The 
gathering tempests menaced the 
northern frontiers, the posts in the 
Highlands, and the city of Phila- 
delphia ; but it was still doubtful 
where the fury of the storm would 
fall. At one time Sir William 
Howe was forcing his way by 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 219 

land to Philadelphia ; at anothei-, 
relinquishing the Jerseys ; at a 
third, facing round to make a sud- 
den inroad ; then embarking with 
all the forces that could be spared 
from New York ; and then putting 
out to sea, at the very moment 
when Burgoyne had reduced Ti- 
conderoga, and seemed to require 
a co-operation in another quarter. 

On our side, we have seen that 
the old Continential army expired 
with the year 1776; since which, 
invention had been tortured with 
expedients, and zeal with efforts to 
levy another : for, on the success 
of the recruiting service, depended 
the salvation of the country. The 
success was such as not to puff us 
up to presumption, or depress us to 
despair. 



220 LIFE OF 



The army in the Jerseys, under 
theorders ofthe general in chief, con- 
sisted of all the troops raised south 
of the Hudson ; that in the north- 
ern department, of the New Hamp- 
shire brigade, two brigades of Mas- 
sachusetts, and the brigade of New 
York, together with some irregular 
corps ; and that in the Highlands, 
of the remaining two brigades of 
Massacliusetts, the Connecticut 
line, consisting of two brigades, 
the brigade of Rhode. Island, and 
one regiment of New York. Upon 
hearing of the loss of Ticon- 
dcroga, and the progress of the 
British towards Albany, General 
Washington ordered the northern 
army to be reinforced with the two 
brigades of Massachusetts, then in 
the Highlands; and, upon fmding 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 221 

the army under his immediate 
command out-numbered by that of 
Sir William Howe, which had, by 
the circuitous route of the Chesa- 
peake, invaded Pennsylvania, he 
also called from the Highlands one 
of the Connecticut brigades, and 
that of Rhode Island, to his own 
assistance. 

In the neighbourhood of General 
Putnam there was no enemy capa- 
ble of exciting alarms. The army 
left at New York seemed only de- 
signed for its defence. In it were 
several entire corps, composed of 
tories, who had flocked to the 
British standard. There was, be- 
sides, a band of lurking miscreants, 
not properly enrolled, who staid 
chiefly at West Chester ; from 
whence they infested the country 



222 LIFE OF 



between the two armies, piljjiged 
the cattle, and carried ofT the peace- 
able inhabitants. It was an un- 
worthy policy in British generals 
to patronize banditti. The whig 
inhabitants on the edge of our lines, 
and still lower down, who had been 
plundered in a merciless manner, 
delayed not to strip the tories in 
return. People most nearly con- 
nected and allied frequently became 
most exasperated and inveterate in 
malice. Then the ties of fellow- 
ship were broken — then friendship 
itself, being soured to enmity, the 
mind readily gave way to private 
revenge, uncontrolled retaliation, 
and all the deforming passions that 
disgrace humanity. Enormities, 
almost without a name, were per- 
petrated, at the description of which, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 223 



the bosom not frozen to apathy, 
must glow with a mixture of pity 
and indignation. 

To prevent the predatory incur- 
sions from below, and to cover the 
county of West Chester, General 
Putnam detached from his head- 
quarters at Peek's-Kill, Meigs's 
regiment, which, in the course of 
the campaign, struck several parti- 
zan strokes, and achieved the ob- 
jects for which it was sent. He 
likewise took measures, without 
noise or ostentation, to secure him- 
self from being surprised and 
carried within the British lines by 
the tories, who had formed a plan 
for the purpose. The information 
of this intended enterprise, convey- 
ed to him through several channels, 
was corroborated by that obtained 



224 LIFE OF 

and transmitted by the commander- 
in-chief. 

It was not wonderful that many 
of these tories were able, undis- 
covered, to penetrate far into the 
country, and even to go with letters 
or messages from one British army 
to another. The inhabitants who 
were well affected to the royal 
cause, afforded them every possible 
support, and their own knowledge 
of the different routes gave them a 
farther facility in performing their 
perigrinations. Sometimes the 
most active loyalists, as the tories 
wished to denominate themselves, 
who had gone into the British posts, 
and received promises of commis- 
sions upon enlisting a certain num- 
ber of soldiers, came back again 
secretly with recruiting instructions. 



GJ3NERAL PUTNAM. 225 



Sometimes these, and others who 
came from the enemy within , the 
verge of our camps, were detected 
and condemned to death, in con- 
formity to the usages of war. But 
the British generals, who had an 
unUmited supply of money at their 
command, were able to pay with 
so much liberality, that emissaries- 
could always be found. Still, it is 
thought that the intelligence of the- 
American commanders was, at 
least, equally accurate; notwifh- 
standing the poverty of their mili- 
tary chest, and the inabilities of 
rewarding mercenary agents for 
secret services in propojrtion to 
their risk and merit. 



15 



226 LIFE OF 



PALMER THE SPY. 

A person by the name of Pal- 
mer, who was a lieutenant in the 
tory new levies, was detected in 
the camp at Peek's Kill. Gover- 
nor Tryon, who commanded the 
new levies, reclaimed him as a 
British oflicer, represented the 
heinous crime of condemning a 
man commissioned by his majesty, 
and threatened vengeance in case 
he should be executed. General 
Putnam wrote the following pithy 
reply. 

" Sir, 

" Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant 
in your king's service, was taken 
in my camp as a Spy — he was 
tried as a Spy — he was condemned 
as a Spy — and you may rest as- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 227 

sured, sir, he shall be hanged as a 
Spyr 

" I have the honour to be, &c. 
" Israel Putnam. 
" His Excellency Gov. Try on. 

" P.S. Afternoon. He is hanged." 

CAPTURE OF FORT MONTGOMERV. 

Important transactions soon oc* 
curred. Not long after the two 
brigades had marched from Peek's 
Kill to Pennsylvania, a reinforce- 
ment arrived at New York from 
Europe. Appearances indicated 
that offensive operations would fol- 
low. General Putnam having been 
reduced in force to a single brigade 
in the field, and a single regiment 
in garrison at Fort Montgomery, 
repeatedly informed the comman^ 
der-in-chief, that the posts com* 



228 



LIFl) OF 



mittcd to his charge must in all 
probability be lost in case an 
attempt should be made upon them; 
and that, circumstanced as he was, 
he could not be responsible for the 
consequences. His situation was 
certainly to be lamented ; but it 
was not in the power of the com- 
mander-in-chief to alter it, except 
by authorising him to call upon the 
militia Cot aid — an aid always pre- 
carious, and often so tardy, as, 
when obtained, to be of no utility. 
On the 5th of October, Sir Henry 
Clinton came up the North River 
with three thousand men. After 
making many feints to mislead 
attention, he landed, the next morn- 
ing, at Stony Point, and commenced 
his march over the mountains to 
Fort Montgomery. Governor Clin- 



GENERAI, PUTNAM, 229 

ton, an active, resolute, and inte\Ii- 
gent officer, who commanded the 
garrison, upon being apprised of 
the movement, despatched a letter, 
by express, to General Putnam for 
succour. By the treachery of the 
messenger, the letter miscarried. 
General Putnam, astonished at hear- 
ing nothing respecting the enemy, 
rode, with General Parsons, and 
Colonel Root, his adjutant general, 
to reconnoitre them at King's Ferry. 
In the meantime, at five o'clock 
in the afternoon, Sir Henry Clin- 
ton's columns, having surmounted 
the obstacles and barriers of na- 
ture, descended from Thunder Hill, 
through thickets impassible but for 
light troops, and attacked the difr 
ferent redoubts. The garrison, in» 
spired by the conduct of theip 



230 LIFE OF 

leaders, defended the works with 
distinguished valour. But, as the 
post had been designed principally 
to prevent the passing of ships, and 
as an assault in rear had not been 
expected, the works on the land 
side were incomplete and untenable. 
In the dusk of twilight, the British 
entered with their bayonets fixed. 
Their loss was inconsiderable. Nor 
was that of the garrison great. 
Governor Clinton, his brother Gen- 
eral James Clinton, Colonel Dubois, 
and most of the otHcers and men 
eficcted their escape under cover 
of the thick smoke and darkness 
that suddenly prevailed. The cap- 
ture of this fort by Sir Henry 
Clinton, together with the conse- 
quent removal of the chains and 
booms that obstructed the naviga- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 231 

tion, opened a passage to Albany, 
and seemed to favour a junction of 
his force with that of General 
Burgoyne. But the latter having 
been compelled to capitulate a few 
days after this event, and great 
numbers of militia having arrived 
from New England, the successful 
army returned to New York ; yet 
not before a detachment from it, 
under the orders of General 
Vaughn, had burnt the defenceless 
town of Esopus, and several scat- 
tering buildings on the banks of the 
river. 

Notwithstanding the army in 
the Highlands had been so much 
weakened, for the sake of strength- 
ening the armies in other quarters, 
as to have occasioned the loss of 
Fort Montgomery, yet that loss 



232 LIFE OF 



was productive of no consequences. 
Our main army in Pennsylvania, 
after having contended with su- 
perior Ibrce in two indecisive bat- 
tles, still held the enemy in check ; 
while the splendid success which 
attended our arms at the north- 
ward, gave a more favourable j 
aspect to the American afFairs, at 
the close of this campaign, than 
they had ever before assumed. 

When the enemy fell back to 
New York by water, we HjI lowed | 
them a part of the way by land, } 
Colonel Meigs, with a detachment i 
from the several rcgiments in 
General Parson's brigade, having 
made a forced march from Crom- 
pond to West Chester, surprised 
and broke up for a time the band 
of freebooters, of whom he brought 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 283 

off fifty, together with many cattle 
and horses which they had recently 
stolen. 

UETALIATJON. 

Soon after this enterprise, General 
Putnam advanced towards the 
British lines. As he had received 
intelligence that small bodies of 
the enemy were out, with orders 
from Governor Tryon to burn 
Wright's Mills, he prevented it by 
detaching three parties, of one 
hundred men in each. One of 
these parties fell in with and cap- 
tured thirty-five, and another forty 
of the new levies. But as he could 
not prevent a third hostile party from 
burning the house of Mr. Van 
Tassel, a noted whig and a com- 
mittee man, who wqs foroed to go 



234 LIFE OF 

along with them, naked and bare- 
foot, on the icy ground, in a 
freezing night, lie, for the professed 
purpose of retaliation, sent Captain 
Buchanan, in a whale-boat, to 
burn the house of General Oliver 
Delancy, on York Island. Bu- 
chanan effected his object, and by 
this expedition put a period, for the , 
present, to that unmeaning and 
wanton species of destruction. 

While General Putnam quartered i 
at New Rochelle, a scouting jjarty, j 
which had been sent to West ' 
Farms, below West Chester, sur- I 
rounded the house in which Colonel . 
James Delancy lodged, and, not- , 
withstanding he crept under the , 
bed the better to be concealed, \ 
brought him to head-quarters be- 
fore morning. This officer was ■ 



GENERAI, PUTNAM. 235 

exclianged by the British general 
without delay, and placed at the 
head of the cow-boys, a licentious 
corps of irregulars, who in the 
sequel, committed unheard-of de- 
predations and excesses. 

STORY OP MISS SUTTON. 

It was distressing to see so beau- 
tiful a part of the country so bar- 
barously wasted, and often to 
witness some peculiar scene of 
female misery : for most of the 
female inhabitants had been 
obliged to fly within the lines pos- 
sessed by one army or the other. 
Near our quarters was an affecting 
instance of human vicissitude. Mr. 
William Sutton, of Maroneck, an 
inoffensive man, a merchant by 
profession, who lived in a decent 



236 UFE OF 



fasliion, and whose fajviily l»ad as 
happy prospects as almost any in 
the country, upon some imputation 
of toryism, went to the enemy. 
His wile, oppvess(!d with grief in 
the disagreeable state of dereliction, 
did not long survive. Betsey Sut- 
ton, iheir eldest daughter, was a 
modest and lovely young woman, 
of about fifteen years old, when, at 
the death of her mother, tlie care 
of five or six younger children de» 
volvcd upon her. Siie was dis* 
creet and provident beyond her 
years ; but when we saw her, she 
looked to be feeble in licalth— . 
broken inspirit-— wan, melancholy, 
and dejected. She said " that their 
last cow, which fiu'nished milk for 
the children, had lately been taken 
away — that they had frnquently 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 237 

been plundered of their wearing 
apparel and furniture, she believed 
by both parties — that they had 
little more to lose— ^and that she 
knew not where to procure bread 
for the dear little ones, who had no 
father to pi'ovide for them" — no 
mothers—she was going to have 
said-— but a torrent of tears 
choaked articulation. In coming 
to that part of the country again^ 
after some campaigns had elapsed, 
I found the habitation desolate, and 
the garden overgrown with weeds. 
Upon inquiry, I learnt, that as 
Soon as we left the place, some 
ruffians broke into the house while 
she lay in bed, in the latter part of 
the night ; and that having been 
terrified by their rudeness, she ran, 
half naked, into a neighbouring 



238 LIFE OF 



swamp, where she continued until 
the nnorning — there the poor girl 
caught a violent cold, which ended 
in a consumption. It finished a 
life without a spot — and a career 
of sufferings commenced and con- 
tinued without a fault. 

Sights of wretchedness always 
touched with commiseration the 
feelings of General Putnam, and 
prompted his generous soul to suc- 
cour the afllicted. But the in- 
dulgence which he showed, when- 
ever it did not militate against his 
duty, towards the deserted and 
suffering families of the tories in 
the State of New York, was the 
cause of his becoming unpopular 
with no inconsiderable class of 
people in that State. On the other 
side, he had conceived an uncon- 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 239 

querable aversion to many of the 
persons who were entrusted with 
the disposal of tory property, be- 
cause he believed them to have 
been guilty of peculations and 
other infamous practices. But al- 
though the enmity between him 
and the sequestrators was acrimo- 
nious as mutual, yet he lived in 
habits of amity with the most 
respectable characters in public de- 
partments, as well as in private 
life. 

His character was also respected 
by the enemy. He had been ac- 
quainted with many of the prin- 
cipal officers in a former war. As 
flags frequently passed between the 
out-posts, during his continuance 
on the lines, it was a common 
practice to forward newspapers by 



240 LIFE OF 



them ; and as those printed by 
Rivington, the royal printer in 
New York, were infamous for the 
falsehoods with which they abound* 
cd, General Putnam once scmt a 
packet to his old friend General 
Robertson, with this billet : " Ma- 
jor-Gcneral Putnam presents his 
compliments to Major-General 
Robertson, and sends him some 
American newspapers for his peru- 
sal—when General Robertson shall 
have done with them, it Is request- 
ed they be given to Rivington, in 
order that he may print some 
truth." 

FORTIFYING OF WEST POINT. 

Lftte in the year we left the 
lines and repaired to the High- 
lands ; for upon the loss of Fort 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 241 



Montgomery, the commander-in- 
chief determined to build another 
fortification for the defence of the 
river. His excellency accord- 
ingly wrote to General Putnam to 
fix upon the spot. After reconnoi- 
tering all the different places pro- 
posed, and revolving in his own 
mind their relative advantages for 
offence on the water and defence 
on the land, he fixed upon West 
Point. It is no vulgar praise to 
say, that to him belongs the glory 
of having chosen this rock of our 
military salvation. The position 
for water batteries, which might 
sweep the channel where the river 
formed a right angle, made it the 
most proper of any for com- 
manding the navigation ; while the 
rocky ridges that rose in awful 



16 



242 LIFE ov 

sublimity behind each other, ren- 
dered it impregnable, and even in- 
capable of being invested by less 
than twenty thousand men. The 
British, who considered this post as 
a sort of American Gibraltar, 
never attempted it but by the 
treachery of an American officer. 
All the world knows that this pro- 
ject failed,* and that West Point 
continues to be the receptacle of 
everything valuable in military 
preparations to the present day. 

GENERAL PUTNAM AT READING 

MUTINY QUELLED. 

In order to cover the country 
adjoining to the Sound, and to sup- 
port the garrison of West Point, 
in case of an attack, Major-Gene- 
ral Putnam was stationed for the 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 243 



winter at Reading, in Connecticut. 
He had under his orders the brigade 
of New-Hampshire, the two bri- 
gades of Connecticut, the corps of 
infantry commanded by Hazen, 
and that of cavalry by Sheldon. 

The troops, who had been badly 
fed, badly clothed, and worse paid, 
by brooding over their grievances 
in the leisure and inactivity of 
winter-quarters, began to think 
them intolerable. The Connecti- 
cut brigades formed the design of 
marching to Hartford, where the 
General Assembly was then in 
session, and of demanding redress 
at the point of the bayonet. Word 
having been brought to General 
Putnam, that the second brigade 
was under arms for this purpose, 
he mounted his horse, galloped to 



246 LIFE OF 



the cantonment, and by an appeal 
to the patriotic feelings and soldierly 
pride of the men, he succeeded in 
completely suppressing the mutiny, 
and restoring order in the camp. 

ADVENTURE AT HORSENECK. 

About the middle of winter, while 
General Putnam was on a visit to 
his out-post at Horseneck, he found 
Governor Tryon advancing upon 
that town with a corps of fifteen 
hundred men. To oppose these 
General Putnam had only a picket 
of one hundred and fifty men, with- 
out horses or drag-ropes. He, 
however, planted his cannon on the 
high ground, by the meeting-house, 
and retarded their approach by 
firing several times, until, perceiv- 
ing the horse (supported by the 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 247 

infantry) about to charge, he order- 
ed the picket to provide for their 
safety by retiring to a swamp in- 
accessible to horse, and secured 
his own, by plunging down the 
steep precipice at the church upon 
a full trot. This precipice is so 
steep, where he descended, as to 
have artificial stairs, composed ot 
nearly one hundred stone steps, 
for the accommodation ot toot 
passengers. There the dragoons, 
who were but a sword's length 
from him, stopped short ; for the 
declivity was so abrupt, that they 
ventured not to follow ; and, before 
they could gain the valley, by going 
round the brow of the hill in the 
ordinary road, he was far enough 
beyond their reach. He continued 
his route, unmolested, to Stanford ; 



348 LIFE or 



from whence, haying strengthened 
his picket by the junction of some 
militia, he came back again, and, 
in turn, pursued Governor Tryon 
in his retreat. As he rode down 
the precipice, one ball, of the many 
fired at him, went through his 
beaver : but Governor Tryon, by 
way of compensation for spoiling 
his hat, sent him soon afterwards, 
as a present, a complete suit of 
clothes. 

In the retreat of the enemy, 
though with a very inferior force. 
General Putnam made about fifty 
prisoners, part of whom were 
wounded, and the whole were the 
next day sent, under the escort of 
an officer's guard, to the British 
lines for exchange. It was for the 
humanity and kindness of Putnam 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 249 

to the wounded prisoners, that 
Governor Tryon complimented him 
with the "suit of clothes." 

CAMPAIGN OP 1779. 

In the campaign of 1779, which 
terminated the career of General 
Putnam's services, he commanded 
the Maryland line, posted at But- 
termilk Falls, about two miles be- 
low West Point. He was happy 
in possessing the friendship of the 
officers of that line, and in living 
on terms of hospitality with them. 
Indeed, there was no family in the 
army that lived better than his own. 
The general, his second son, Major 
Daniel Putnam, and the writer of 
these memoirs, Col. Humphreys, 
composed that family. This cam- 
paign, principally spent in strength- 



250 LIFE OF 



ening the works of West Point, was 
only sifi^nalized for the storming of 
Stony Point, by the light-infantry 
under the conduct of General 
Wayne, and the surprise of the 
post of Powles Hook by the corps 
under the command of Colonel 
Henry Lee. When the army quitted 
the field and marched to Morris- 
town, into winter-quarters, General 
Putnam's family went into Con- 
necticut for a few weeks. In 
December, the general began his 
journey to Morristown. Upon the 
road between Pom fret and Hart- 
ford, he felt an unusual torpor 
slowly pervading his right hand 
and foot. The heaviness crept 
gradually on, until it had deprived 
him of the use of his limbs on that 
side, in a considerable degree, i 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 251 

before he reached the house of his 
friend, Colonel Wadsworth. Slili 
he was unwilling to consider his 
disorder of the paralytic kind, and 
endeavoured to shake it off by ex- 
ertion. Having found that impos''- 
sible, a temporary dejection, dis- 
guised, however, under a veil of 
assumed cheerfulness, succeeded. 
But reason, philosophy, and religion, 
soon reconciled him to his fate. 

In that situation he remained 
till the close of life, favoured with 
such a portion of bodily activity 
as enabled him to walk and to ride 
moderately ; and retaining, unim- 
paired, his relish for enjoyment, 
his love of pleasantry, his streng'h 
of memory, and all the faculties of 
his mind. As a proof that his 
powers of memory were not weak- 



252 LIFE OF 



ened, it ought to be observed, that 
just before his death he repeated, 
from recollection, all the adven- 
tures of his life, which are here 
recorded, and which had formerly 
been communicated to the compiler 
in detached conversations. 

In patient, yet fearless expecta- 
tion of the approach of the King 
of Terrors, whom he had full 
often faced in the field of blood, 
the .Christian hero now enjoyed, in 
domestic retirement, the fruit of his 
early industry. Having in youth 
provided a competent subsistence 
for old a2;e, he was secured from 
the danger of penury and distress, 
to which so many officers and 
soldiers, worn out in the public 
service, have been reduced. 



GENERAL. PUTNAM. 253 



LAST DAYS OF PUTNAM. 

The remainder of the life of 
General Putnam was passed in 
quiet retirement with his family. 
He experienced few interruptions 
in bodily health, (except the para- 
lytic debility with which he was 
afflicted) retained full possession of 
his mental faculties, and enjoyed 
the society of his friends until the 
17th of May, 1790, when he was 
violently attacked with an inflam- 
matory disease. Satisfied from the 
first that it would prove mortal, he 
was calm and resigned, and wel- 
comed the approach of death with 
joy, as a messenger sent to call 
him from a life of toil to everlast- 
ing rest. 



254 LIKE OF 



On the 19th of May, 1790, 
General Putnam ended a Hfe 
which had been spent in cultiva- 
ting and defending the soil of his 
birth. 

Much of his life had been spent 
in arms, and the military of the 
neigh!)ourhood were desirous that 
the rites of sepulture should be 
accompanied with martial hon- 
ours : they felt that this last tribute 
of respect was due to a soldier, 
who, from a patriotic love of coun- 
try, had devoted the best part of 
his life to the defence of her rights, 
and the establishment of her in- 
dependence — and who, through 
long trying services, was never 
once reproached for misconduct as 
an officer ; but when disease com- 
pelled him to retire from service, 



GENERAL PUTNAM. 255 

left it beloved and respected by the 
army and his chief, and with high 
claims to the grateful remembrance 
r^ his country. 

Under these impressions, the 
grenadiers of the 11th regiment, 
the independent corps of artillerists, 
and with the militia companies in 
the neighbourhood, assembled each 
at their appointed rendezvous early 
on the morning of the 21st, and 
having repaired to the late dwell- 
ing house of the deceased, a suit- 
able escort was formed, attended 
by a procession of the Masonic 
brethren present, and a large con- 
course of respectable citizens, 
which moved to the Congregational 
meeting-house in Brooklyn ; and, 
after divine service performed by 
the Rev. Dr. Whitney, all that was 



256 LIFE OF GENERAL PUTNAM. 

earthly of a patriot and hero was 
laid in the silent tomb, under the 
discharge of vollies from the infan- 
try, and minute guns from the 
artillery. 



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